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Read by Mark Nelson A PRINCESS OF MARS
by Edgar Rice Burroughs
FOREWORD To the Reader of this Work:
In submitting Captain Carter's strange manuscript to you in book form, I believe that a few
words relative to this remarkable personality will be of interest.
My first recollection of Captain Carter is of the few months he spent at my father's
home in Virginia, just prior to the opening of the civil war. I was then a child of but
five years, yet I well remember the tall, dark, smooth-faced, athletic man whom I called
Uncle Jack. He seemed always to be laughing; and he entered
into the sports of the children with the same hearty good fellowship he displayed toward
those pastimes in which the men and women of his own age indulged; or he would sit for
an hour at a time entertaining my old grandmother with stories of his strange, wild life in
all parts of the world. We all loved him, and our slaves fairly worshipped the ground
he trod. He was a splendid specimen of manhood, standing
a good two inches over six feet, broad of shoulder and narrow of hip, with the carriage
of the trained fighting man. His features were regular and clear cut, his hair black
and closely cropped, while his eyes were of a steel gray, reflecting a strong and loyal
character, filled with fire and initiative. His manners were perfect, and his courtliness
was that of a typical southern gentleman of the highest type.
His horsemanship, especially after hounds, was a marvel and delight even in that country
of magnificent horsemen. I have often heard my father caution him against his wild recklessness,
but he would only laugh, and say that the tumble that killed him would be from the back
of a horse yet unfoaled. When the war broke out he left us, nor did
I see him again for some fifteen or sixteen years. When he returned it was without warning,
and I was much surprised to note that he had not aged apparently a moment, nor had he changed
in any other outward way. He was, when others were with him, the same genial, happy fellow
we had known of old, but when he thought himself alone I have seen him sit for hours gazing
off into space, his face set in a look of wistful longing and hopeless misery; and at
night he would sit thus looking up into the heavens, at what I did not know until I read
his manuscript years afterward. He told us that he had been prospecting and
mining in Arizona part of the time since the war; and that he had been very successful
was evidenced by the unlimited amount of money with which he was supplied. As to the details
of his life during these years he was very reticent, in fact he would not talk of them
at all. He remained with us for about a year and then
went to New York, where he purchased a little place on the Hudson, where I visited him once
a year on the occasions of my trips to the New York market my father and I owning and
operating a string of general stores throughout Virginia at that time. Captain Carter had
a small but beautiful cottage, situated on a bluff overlooking the river, and during
one of my last visits, in the winter of 1885, I observed he was much occupied in writing,
I presume now, upon this manuscript. He told me at this time that if anything should
happen to him he wished me to take charge of his estate, and he gave me a key to a compartment
in the safe which stood in his study, telling me I would find his will there and some personal
instructions which he had me pledge myself to carry out with absolute fidelity.
After I had retired for the night I have seen him from my window standing in the moonlight
on the brink of the bluff overlooking the Hudson with his arms stretched out to the
heavens as though in appeal. I thought at the time that he was praying, although I never
understood that he was in the strict sense of the term a religious man.
Several months after I had returned home from my last visit, the first of March, 1886, I
think, I received a telegram from him asking me to come to him at once. I had always been
his favorite among the younger generation of Carters and so I hastened to comply with
his demand. I arrived at the little station, about a mile
from his grounds, on the morning of March 4, 1886, and when I asked the livery man to
drive me out to Captain Carter's he replied that if I was a friend of the Captain's he
had some very bad news for me; the Captain had been found dead shortly after daylight
that very morning by the watchman attached to an adjoining property.
For some reason this news did not surprise me, but I hurried out to his place as quickly
as possible, so that I could take charge of the body and of his affairs.
I found the watchman who had discovered him, together with the local police chief and several
townspeople, assembled in his little study. The watchman related the few details connected
with the finding of the body, which he said had been still warm when he came upon it.
It lay, he said, stretched full length in the snow with the arms outstretched above
the head toward the edge of the bluff, and when he showed me the spot it flashed upon
me that it was the identical one where I had seen him on those other nights, with his arms
raised in supplication to the skies. There were no marks of violence on the body,
and with the aid of a local physician the coroner's jury quickly reached a decision
of death from heart failure. Left alone in the study, I opened the safe and withdrew
the contents of the drawer in which he had told me I would find my instructions. They
were in part peculiar indeed, but I have followed them to each last detail as faithfully as
I was able. He directed that I remove his body to Virginia
without embalming, and that he be laid in an open coffin within a tomb which he previously
had had constructed and which, as I later learned, was well ventilated. The instructions
impressed upon me that I must personally see that this was carried out just as he directed,
even in secrecy if necessary. His property was left in such a way that I
was to receive the entire income for twenty-five years, when the principal was to become mine.
His further instructions related to this manuscript which I was to retain sealed and unread, just
as I found it, for eleven years; nor was I to divulge its contents until twenty-one years
after his death. A strange feature about the tomb, where his
body still lies, is that the massive door is equipped with a single, huge gold-plated
spring lock which can be opened only from the inside.
Yours very sincerely, Edgar Rice Burroughs.
CHAPTER I ON THE ARIZONA HILLS
I am a very old man; how old I do not know. Possibly I am a hundred, possibly more; but
I cannot tell because I have never aged as other men, nor do I remember any childhood.
So far as I can recollect I have always been a man, a man of about thirty. I appear today
as I did forty years and more ago, and yet I feel that I cannot go on living forever;
that some day I shall die the real death from which there is no resurrection. I do not know
why I should fear death, I who have died twice and am still alive; but yet I have the same
horror of it as you who have never died, and it is because of this terror of death, I believe,
that I am so convinced of my mortality. And because of this conviction I have determined
to write down the story of the interesting periods of my life and of my death. I cannot
explain the phenomena; I can only set down here in the words of an ordinary soldier of
fortune a chronicle of the strange events that befell me during the ten years that my
dead body lay undiscovered in an Arizona cave. I have never told this story, nor shall mortal
man see this manuscript until after I have passed over for eternity. I know that the
average human mind will not believe what it cannot grasp, and so I do not purpose being
pilloried by the public, the pulpit, and the press, and held up as a colossal liar when
I am but telling the simple truths which some day science will substantiate. Possibly the
suggestions which I gained upon Mars, and the knowledge which I can set down in this
chronicle, will aid in an earlier understanding of the mysteries of our sister planet; mysteries
to you, but no longer mysteries to me. My name is John Carter; I am better known
as Captain Jack Carter of Virginia. At the close of the Civil War I found myself possessed
of several hundred thousand dollars (Confederate) and a captain's commission in the cavalry
arm of an army which no longer existed; the servant of a state which had vanished with
the hopes of the South. Masterless, penniless, and with my only means of livelihood, fighting,
gone, I determined to work my way to the southwest and attempt to retrieve my fallen fortunes
in a search for gold. I spent nearly a year prospecting in company
with another Confederate officer, Captain James K. Powell of Richmond. We were extremely
fortunate, for late in the winter of 1865, after many hardships and privations, we located
the most remarkable gold-bearing quartz vein that our wildest dreams had ever pictured.
Powell, who was a mining engineer by education, stated that we had uncovered over a million
dollars worth of ore in a trifle over three months.
As our equipment was crude in the extreme we decided that one of us must return to civilization,
purchase the necessary machinery and return with a sufficient force of men properly to
work the mine. As Powell was familiar with the country, as
well as with the mechanical requirements of mining we determined that it would be best
for him to make the trip. It was agreed that I was to hold down our claim against the remote
possibility of its being jumped by some wandering prospector.
On March 3, 1866, Powell and I packed his provisions on two of our burros, and bidding
me good-bye he mounted his horse, and started down the mountainside toward the valley, across
which led the first stage of his journey. The morning of Powell's departure was, like
nearly all Arizona mornings, clear and beautiful; I could see him and his little pack animals
picking their way down the mountainside toward the valley, and all during the morning I would
catch occasional glimpses of them as they topped a hog back or came out upon a level
plateau. My last sight of Powell was about three in the afternoon as he entered the shadows
of the range on the opposite side of the valley. Some half hour later I happened to glance
casually across the valley and was much surprised to note three little dots in about the same
place I had last seen my friend and his two pack animals. I am not given to needless worrying,
but the more I tried to convince myself that all was well with Powell, and that the dots
I had seen on his trail were antelope or wild horses, the less I was able to assure myself.
Since we had entered the territory we had not seen a hostile Indian, and we had, therefore,
become careless in the extreme, and were wont to ridicule the stories we had heard of the
great numbers of these vicious marauders that were supposed to haunt the trails, taking
their toll in lives and torture of every white party which fell into their merciless clutches.
Powell, I knew, was well armed and, further, an experienced Indian fighter; but I too had
lived and fought for years among the Sioux in the North, and I knew that his chances
were small against a party of cunning trailing Apaches. Finally I could endure the suspense
no longer, and, arming myself with my two Colt revolvers and a carbine, I strapped two
belts of cartridges about me and catching my saddle horse, started down the trail taken
by Powell in the morning. As soon as I reached comparatively level ground
I urged my mount into a canter and continued this, where the going permitted, until, close
upon dusk, I discovered the point where other tracks joined those of Powell. They were the
tracks of unshod ponies, three of them, and the ponies had been galloping.
I followed rapidly until, darkness shutting down, I was forced to await the rising of
the moon, and given an opportunity to speculate on the question of the wisdom of my chase.
Possibly I had conjured up impossible dangers, like some nervous old housewife, and when
I should catch up with Powell would get a good laugh for my pains. However, I am not
prone to sensitiveness, and the following of a sense of duty, wherever it may lead,
has always been a kind of fetich with me throughout my life; which may account for the honors
bestowed upon me by three republics and the decorations and friendships of an old and
powerful emperor and several lesser kings, in whose service my sword has been red many
a time. About nine o'clock the moon was sufficiently
bright for me to proceed on my way and I had no difficulty in following the trail at a
fast walk, and in some places at a brisk trot until, about midnight, I reached the water
hole where Powell had expected to camp. I came upon the spot unexpectedly, finding it
entirely deserted, with no signs of having been recently occupied as a camp.
I was interested to note that the tracks of the pursuing horsemen, for such I was now
convinced they must be, continued after Powell with only a brief stop at the hole for water;
and always at the same rate of speed as his. I was positive now that the trailers were
Apaches and that they wished to capture Powell alive for the fiendish pleasure of the torture,
so I urged my horse onward at a most dangerous pace, hoping against hope that I would catch
up with the red rascals before they attacked him.
Further speculation was suddenly cut short by the faint report of two shots far ahead
of me. I knew that Powell would need me now if ever, and I instantly urged my horse to
his topmost speed up the narrow and difficult mountain trail.
I had forged ahead for perhaps a mile or more without hearing further sounds, when the trail
suddenly debouched onto a small, open plateau near the summit of the pass. I had passed
through a narrow, overhanging gorge just before entering suddenly upon this table land, and
the sight which met my eyes filled me with consternation and dismay.
The little stretch of level land was white with Indian tepees, and there were probably
half a thousand red warriors clustered around some object near the center of the camp. Their
attention was so wholly riveted to this point of interest that they did not notice me, and
I easily could have turned back into the dark recesses of the gorge and made my escape with
perfect safety. The fact, however, that this thought did not occur to me until the following
day removes any possible right to a claim to heroism to which the narration of this
episode might possibly otherwise entitle me. I do not believe that I am made of the stuff
which constitutes heroes, because, in all of the hundreds of instances that my voluntary
acts have placed me face to face with death, I cannot recall a single one where any alternative
step to that I took occurred to me until many hours later. My mind is evidently so constituted
that I am subconsciously forced into the path of duty without recourse to tiresome mental
processes. However that may be, I have never regretted that cowardice is not optional with
me. In this instance I was, of course, positive
that Powell was the center of attraction, but whether I thought or acted first I do
not know, but within an instant from the moment the scene broke upon my view I had whipped
out my revolvers and was charging down upon the entire army of warriors, shooting rapidly,
and whooping at the top of my lungs. Singlehanded, I could not have pursued better tactics, for
the red men, convinced by sudden surprise that not less than a regiment of regulars
was upon them, turned and fled in every direction for their bows, arrows, and rifles.
The view which their hurried routing disclosed filled me with apprehension and with rage.
Under the clear rays of the Arizona moon lay Powell, his body fairly bristling with the
hostile arrows of the braves. That he was already dead I could not but be convinced,
and yet I would have saved his body from mutilation at the hands of the Apaches as quickly as
I would have saved the man himself from death. Riding close to him I reached down from the
saddle, and grasping his cartridge belt drew him up across the withers of my mount. A backward
glance convinced me that to return by the way I had come would be more hazardous than
to continue across the plateau, so, putting spurs to my poor beast, I made a dash for
the opening to the pass which I could distinguish on the far side of the table land.
The Indians had by this time discovered that I was alone and I was pursued with imprecations,
arrows, and rifle balls. The fact that it is difficult to aim anything but imprecations
accurately by moonlight, that they were upset by the sudden and unexpected manner of my
advent, and that I was a rather rapidly moving target saved me from the various deadly projectiles
of the enemy and permitted me to reach the shadows of the surrounding peaks before an
orderly pursuit could be organized. My horse was traveling practically unguided
as I knew that I had probably less knowledge of the exact location of the trail to the
pass than he, and thus it happened that he entered a defile which led to the summit of
the range and not to the pass which I had hoped would carry me to the valley and to
safety. It is probable, however, that to this fact I owe my life and the remarkable experiences
and adventures which befell me during the following ten years.
My first knowledge that I was on the wrong trail came when I heard the yells of the pursuing
savages suddenly grow fainter and fainter far off to my left.
I knew then that they had passed to the left of the jagged rock formation at the edge of
the plateau, to the right of which my horse had borne me and the body of Powell.
I drew rein on a little level promontory overlooking the trail below and to my left, and saw the
party of pursuing savages disappearing around the point of a neighboring peak.
I knew the Indians would soon discover that they were on the wrong trail and that the
search for me would be renewed in the right direction as soon as they located my tracks.
I had gone but a short distance further when what seemed to be an excellent trail opened
up around the face of a high cliff. The trail was level and quite broad and led upward and
in the general direction I wished to go. The cliff arose for several hundred feet on my
right, and on my left was an equal and nearly perpendicular drop to the bottom of a rocky
ravine. I had followed this trail for perhaps a hundred
yards when a sharp turn to the right brought me to the mouth of a large cave. The opening
was about four feet in height and three to four feet wide, and at this opening the trail
ended. It was now morning, and, with the customary
lack of dawn which is a startling characteristic of Arizona, it had become daylight almost
without warning. Dismounting, I laid Powell upon the ground,
but the most painstaking examination failed to reveal the faintest spark of life. I forced
water from my canteen between his dead lips, bathed his face and rubbed his hands, working
over him continuously for the better part of an hour in the face of the fact that I
knew him to be dead. I was very fond of Powell; he was thoroughly
a man in every respect; a polished southern gentleman; a staunch and true friend; and
it was with a feeling of the deepest grief that I finally gave up my crude endeavors
at resuscitation. Leaving Powell's body where it lay on the
ledge I crept into the cave to reconnoiter. I found a large chamber, possibly a hundred
feet in diameter and thirty or forty feet in height; a smooth and well-worn floor, and
many other evidences that the cave had, at some remote period, been inhabited. The back
of the cave was so lost in dense shadow that I could not distinguish whether there were
openings into other apartments or not. As I was continuing my examination I commenced
to feel a pleasant drowsiness creeping over me which I attributed to the fatigue of my
long and strenuous ride, and the reaction from the excitement of the fight and the pursuit.
I felt comparatively safe in my present location as I knew that one man could defend the trail
to the cave against an army. I soon became so drowsy that I could scarcely
resist the strong desire to throw myself on the floor of the cave for a few moments' rest,
but I knew that this would never do, as it would mean certain death at the hands of my
red friends, who might be upon me at any moment. With an effort I started toward the opening
of the cave only to reel drunkenly against a side wall, and from there slip prone upon
the floor.
CHAPTER II THE ESCAPE OF THE DEAD
A sense of delicious dreaminess overcame me, my muscles relaxed, and I was on the point
of giving way to my desire to sleep when the sound of approaching horses reached my ears.
I attempted to spring to my feet but was horrified to discover that my muscles refused to respond
to my will. I was now thoroughly awake, but as unable to move a muscle as though turned
to stone. It was then, for the first time, that I noticed a slight vapor filling the
cave. It was extremely tenuous and only noticeable against the opening which led to daylight.
There also came to my nostrils a faintly pungent odor, and I could only assume that I had been
overcome by some poisonous gas, but why I should retain my mental faculties and yet
be unable to move I could not fathom. I lay facing the opening of the cave and where
I could see the short stretch of trail which lay between the cave and the turn of the cliff
around which the trail led. The noise of the approaching horses had ceased, and I judged
the Indians were creeping stealthily upon me along the little ledge which led to my
living tomb. I remember that I hoped they would make short work of me as I did not particularly
relish the thought of the innumerable things they might do to me if the spirit prompted
them. I had not long to wait before a stealthy sound
apprised me of their nearness, and then a war-bonneted, paint-streaked face was thrust
cautiously around the shoulder of the cliff, and savage eyes looked into mine. That he
could see me in the dim light of the cave I was sure for the early morning sun was falling
full upon me through the opening. The fellow, instead of approaching, merely
stood and stared; his eyes bulging and his jaw dropped. And then another savage face
appeared, and a third and fourth and fifth, craning their necks over the shoulders of
their fellows whom they could not pass upon the narrow ledge. Each face was the picture
of awe and fear, but for what reason I did not know, nor did I learn until ten years
later. That there were still other braves behind those who regarded me was apparent
from the fact that the leaders passed back whispered word to those behind them.
Suddenly a low but distinct moaning sound issued from the recesses of the cave behind
me, and, as it reached the ears of the Indians, they turned and fled in terror, panic-stricken.
So frantic were their efforts to escape from the unseen thing behind me that one of the
braves was hurled headlong from the cliff to the rocks below. Their wild cries echoed
in the canyon for a short time, and then all was still once more.
The sound which had frightened them was not repeated, but it had been sufficient as it
was to start me speculating on the possible horror which lurked in the shadows at my back.
Fear is a relative term and so I can only measure my feelings at that time by what I
had experienced in previous positions of danger and by those that I have passed through since;
but I can say without shame that if the sensations I endured during the next few minutes were
fear, then may God help the coward, for cowardice is of a surety its own punishment.
To be held paralyzed, with one's back toward some horrible and unknown danger from the
very sound of which the ferocious Apache warriors turn in wild stampede, as a flock of sheep
would madly flee from a pack of wolves, seems to me the last word in fearsome predicaments
for a man who had ever been used to fighting for his life with all the energy of a powerful
physique. Several times I thought I heard faint sounds
behind me as of somebody moving cautiously, but eventually even these ceased, and I was
left to the contemplation of my position without interruption. I could but vaguely conjecture
the cause of my paralysis, and my only hope lay in that it might pass off as suddenly
as it had fallen upon me. Late in the afternoon my horse, which had
been standing with dragging rein before the cave, started slowly down the trail, evidently
in search of food and water, and I was left alone with my mysterious unknown companion
and the dead body of my friend, which lay just within my range of vision upon the ledge
where I had placed it in the early morning. From then until possibly midnight all was
silence, the silence of the dead; then, suddenly, the awful moan of the morning broke upon my
startled ears, and there came again from the black shadows the sound of a moving thing,
and a faint rustling as of dead leaves. The shock to my already overstrained nervous system
was terrible in the extreme, and with a superhuman effort I strove to break my awful bonds. It
was an effort of the mind, of the will, of the nerves; not muscular, for I could not
move even so much as my little finger, but none the less mighty for all that. And then
something gave, there was a momentary feeling of nausea, a sharp click as of the snapping
of a steel wire, and I stood with my back against the wall of the cave facing my unknown
foe. And then the moonlight flooded the cave, and
there before me lay my own body as it had been lying all these hours, with the eyes
staring toward the open ledge and the hands resting limply upon the ground. I looked first
at my lifeless clay there upon the floor of the cave and then down at myself in utter
bewilderment; for there I lay clothed, and yet here I stood but naked as at the minute
of my birth. The transition had been so sudden and so unexpected
that it left me for a moment forgetful of aught else than my strange metamorphosis.
My first thought was, is this then death! Have I indeed passed over forever into that
other life! But I could not well believe this, as I could feel my heart pounding against
my ribs from the exertion of my efforts to release myself from the anaesthesis which
had held me. My breath was coming in quick, short gasps, cold sweat stood out from every
pore of my body, and the ancient experiment of pinching revealed the fact that I was anything
other than a wraith. Again was I suddenly recalled to my immediate
surroundings by a repetition of the weird moan from the depths of the cave. Naked and
unarmed as I was, I had no desire to face the unseen thing which menaced me.
My revolvers were strapped to my lifeless body which, for some unfathomable reason,
I could not bring myself to touch. My carbine was in its boot, strapped to my saddle, and
as my horse had wandered off I was left without means of defense. My only alternative seemed
to lie in flight and my decision was crystallized by a recurrence of the rustling sound from
the thing which now seemed, in the darkness of the cave and to my distorted imagination,
to be creeping stealthily upon me. Unable longer to resist the temptation to
escape this horrible place I leaped quickly through the opening into the starlight of
a clear Arizona night. The crisp, fresh mountain air outside the cave acted as an immediate
tonic and I felt new life and new courage coursing through me. Pausing upon the brink
of the ledge I upbraided myself for what now seemed to me wholly unwarranted apprehension.
I reasoned with myself that I had lain helpless for many hours within the cave, yet nothing
had molested me, and my better judgment, when permitted the direction of clear and logical
reasoning, convinced me that the noises I had heard must have resulted from purely natural
and harmless causes; probably the conformation of the cave was such that a slight breeze
had caused the sounds I heard. I decided to investigate, but first I lifted
my head to fill my lungs with the pure, invigorating night air of the mountains. As I did so I
saw stretching far below me the beautiful vista of rocky gorge, and level, cacti-studded
flat, wrought by the moonlight into a miracle of soft splendor and wondrous enchantment.
Few western wonders are more inspiring than the beauties of an Arizona moonlit landscape;
the silvered mountains in the distance, the strange lights and shadows upon hog back and
arroyo, and the grotesque details of the stiff, yet beautiful cacti form a picture at once
enchanting and inspiring; as though one were catching for the first time a glimpse of some
dead and forgotten world, so different is it from the aspect of any other spot upon
our earth. As I stood thus meditating, I turned my gaze
from the landscape to the heavens where the myriad stars formed a gorgeous and fitting
canopy for the wonders of the earthly scene. My attention was quickly riveted by a large
red star close to the distant horizon. As I gazed upon it I felt a spell of overpowering
fascination it was Mars, the god of war, and for me, the fighting man, it had always held
the power of irresistible enchantment. As I gazed at it on that far-gone night it seemed
to call across the unthinkable void, to lure me to it, to draw me as the lodestone attracts
a particle of iron. My longing was beyond the power of opposition;
I closed my eyes, stretched out my arms toward the god of my vocation and felt myself drawn
with the suddenness of thought through the trackless immensity of space. There was an
instant of extreme cold and utter darkness.
CHAPTER III MY ADVENT ON MARS
I opened my eyes upon a strange and weird landscape. I knew that I was on Mars; not
once did I question either my sanity or my wakefulness. I was not asleep, no need for
pinching here; my inner consciousness told me as plainly that I was upon Mars as your
conscious mind tells you that you are upon Earth. You do not question the fact; neither
did I. I found myself lying prone upon a bed of yellowish,
mosslike vegetation which stretched around me in all directions for interminable miles.
I seemed to be lying in a deep, circular basin, along the outer verge of which I could distinguish
the irregularities of low hills. It was midday, the sun was shining full upon
me and the heat of it was rather intense upon my naked body, yet no greater than would have
been true under similar conditions on an Arizona desert. Here and there were slight outcroppings
of quartz-bearing rock which glistened in the sunlight; and a little to my left, perhaps
a hundred yards, appeared a low, walled enclosure about four feet in height. No water, and no
other vegetation than the moss was in evidence, and as I was somewhat thirsty I determined
to do a little exploring. Springing to my feet I received my first Martian
surprise, for the effort, which on Earth would have brought me standing upright, carried
me into the Martian air to the height of about three yards. I alighted softly upon the ground,
however, without appreciable shock or jar. Now commenced a series of evolutions which
even then seemed ludicrous in the extreme. I found that I must learn to walk all over
again, as the muscular exertion which carried me easily and safely upon Earth played strange
antics with me upon Mars. Instead of progressing in a sane and dignified
manner, my attempts to walk resulted in a variety of hops which took me clear of the
ground a couple of feet at each step and landed me sprawling upon my face or back at the end
of each second or third hop. My muscles, perfectly attuned and accustomed to the force of gravity
on Earth, played the mischief with me in attempting for the first time to cope with the lesser
gravitation and lower air pressure on Mars. I was determined, however, to explore the
low structure which was the only evidence of habitation in sight, and so I hit upon
the unique plan of reverting to first principles in locomotion, creeping. I did fairly well
at this and in a few moments had reached the low, encircling wall of the enclosure.
There appeared to be no doors or windows upon the side nearest me, but as the wall was but
about four feet high I cautiously gained my feet and peered over the top upon the strangest
sight it had ever been given me to see. The roof of the enclosure was of solid glass
about four or five inches in thickness, and beneath this were several hundred large eggs,
perfectly round and snowy white. The eggs were nearly uniform in size being about two
and one-half feet in diameter. Five or six had already hatched and the grotesque
caricatures which sat blinking in the sunlight were enough to cause me to doubt my sanity.
They seemed mostly head, with little scrawny bodies, long necks and six legs, or, as I
afterward learned, two legs and two arms, with an intermediary pair of limbs which could
be used at will either as arms or legs. Their eyes were set at the extreme sides of their
heads a trifle above the center and protruded in such a manner that they could be directed
either forward or back and also independently of each other, thus permitting this ***
animal to look in any direction, or in two directions at once, without the necessity
of turning the head. The ears, which were slightly above the eyes
and closer together, were small, cup-shaped antennae, protruding not more than an inch
on these young specimens. Their noses were but longitudinal slits in the center of their
faces, midway between their mouths and ears. There was no hair on their bodies, which were
of a very light yellowish-green color. In the adults, as I was to learn quite soon,
this color deepens to an olive green and is darker in the male than in the female. Further,
the heads of the adults are not so out of proportion to their bodies as in the case
of the young. The iris of the eyes is blood red, as in Albinos,
while the pupil is dark. The eyeball itself is very white, as are the teeth. These latter
add a most ferocious appearance to an otherwise fearsome and terrible countenance, as the
lower tusks curve upward to sharp points which end about where the eyes of earthly human
beings are located. The whiteness of the teeth is not that of ivory, but of the snowiest
and most gleaming of china. Against the dark background of their olive skins their tusks
stand out in a most striking manner, making these weapons present a singularly formidable
appearance. Most of these details I noted later, for I
was given but little time to speculate on the wonders of my new discovery. I had seen
that the eggs were in the process of hatching, and as I stood watching the hideous little
monsters break from their shells I failed to note the approach of a score of full-grown
Martians from behind me. Coming, as they did, over the soft and soundless
moss, which covers practically the entire surface of Mars with the exception of the
frozen areas at the poles and the scattered cultivated districts, they might have captured
me easily, but their intentions were far more sinister. It was the rattling of the accouterments
of the foremost warrior which warned me. On such a little thing my life hung that I
often marvel that I escaped so easily. Had not the rifle of the leader of the party swung
from its fastenings beside his saddle in such a way as to strike against the butt of his
great metal-shod spear I should have snuffed out without ever knowing that death was near
me. But the little sound caused me to turn, and there upon me, not ten feet from my breast,
was the point of that huge spear, a spear forty feet long, tipped with gleaming metal,
and held low at the side of a mounted replica of the little devils I had been watching.
But how puny and harmless they now looked beside this huge and terrific incarnation
of hate, of vengeance and of death. The man himself, for such I may call him, was fully
fifteen feet in height and, on Earth, would have weighed some four hundred pounds. He
sat his mount as we sit a horse, grasping the animal's barrel with his lower limbs,
while the hands of his two right arms held his immense spear low at the side of his mount;
his two left arms were outstretched laterally to help preserve his balance, the thing he
rode having neither bridle or reins of any description for guidance.
And his mount! How can earthly words describe it! It towered ten feet at the shoulder; had
four legs on either side; a broad flat tail, larger at the tip than at the root, and which
it held straight out behind while running; a gaping mouth which split its head from its
snout to its long, massive neck. Like its master, it was entirely devoid of
hair, but was of a dark slate color and exceeding smooth and glossy. Its belly was white, and
its legs shaded from the slate of its shoulders and hips to a vivid yellow at the feet. The
feet themselves were heavily padded and nailless, which fact had also contributed to the noiselessness
of their approach, and, in common with a multiplicity of legs, is a characteristic feature of the
fauna of Mars. The highest type of man and one other animal, the only mammal existing
on Mars, alone have well-formed nails, and there are absolutely no hoofed animals in
existence there. Behind this first charging demon trailed nineteen
others, similar in all respects, but, as I learned later, bearing individual characteristics
peculiar to themselves; precisely as no two of us are identical although we are all cast
in a similar mold. This picture, or rather materialized nightmare, which I have described
at length, made but one terrible and swift impression on me as I turned to meet it.
Unarmed and naked as I was, the first law of nature manifested itself in the only possible
solution of my immediate problem, and that was to get out of the vicinity of the point
of the charging spear. Consequently I gave a very earthly and at the same time superhuman
leap to reach the top of the Martian incubator, for such I had determined it must be.
My effort was crowned with a success which appalled me no less than it seemed to surprise
the Martian warriors, for it carried me fully thirty feet into the air and landed me a hundred
feet from my pursuers and on the opposite side of the enclosure.
I alighted upon the soft moss easily and without mishap, and turning saw my enemies lined up
along the further wall. Some were surveying me with expressions which I afterward discovered
marked extreme astonishment, and the others were evidently satisfying themselves that
I had not molested their young. They were conversing together in low tones,
and gesticulating and pointing toward me. Their discovery that I had not harmed the
little Martians, and that I was unarmed, must have caused them to look upon me with less
ferocity; but, as I was to learn later, the thing which weighed most in my favor was my
exhibition of hurdling. While the Martians are immense, their bones
are very large and they are muscled only in proportion to the gravitation which they must
overcome. The result is that they are infinitely less agile and less powerful, in proportion
to their weight, than an Earth man, and I doubt that were one of them suddenly to be
transported to Earth he could lift his own weight from the ground; in fact, I am convinced
that he could not do so. My feat then was as marvelous upon Mars as
it would have been upon Earth, and from desiring to annihilate me they suddenly looked upon
me as a wonderful discovery to be captured and exhibited among their fellows.
The respite my unexpected agility had given me permitted me to formulate plans for the
immediate future and to note more closely the appearance of the warriors, for I could
not disassociate these people in my mind from those other warriors who, only the day before,
had been pursuing me. I noted that each was armed with several other
weapons in addition to the huge spear which I have described. The weapon which caused
me to decide against an attempt at escape by flight was what was evidently a rifle of
some description, and which I felt, for some reason, they were peculiarly efficient in
handling. These rifles were of a white metal stocked
with wood, which I learned later was a very light and intensely hard growth much prized
on Mars, and entirely unknown to us denizens of Earth. The metal of the barrel is an alloy
composed principally of aluminum and steel which they have learned to temper to a hardness
far exceeding that of the steel with which we are familiar. The weight of these rifles
is comparatively little, and with the small caliber, explosive, radium projectiles which
they use, and the great length of the barrel, they are deadly in the extreme and at ranges
which would be unthinkable on Earth. The theoretic effective radius of this rifle is three hundred
miles, but the best they can do in actual service when equipped with their wireless
finders and sighters is but a trifle over two hundred miles.
This is quite far enough to imbue me with great respect for the Martian firearm, and
some telepathic force must have warned me against an attempt to escape in broad daylight
from under the muzzles of twenty of these death-dealing machines.
The Martians, after conversing for a short time, turned and rode away in the direction
from which they had come, leaving one of their number alone by the enclosure. When they had
covered perhaps two hundred yards they halted, and turning their mounts toward us sat watching
the warrior by the enclosure. He was the one whose spear had so nearly transfixed
me, and was evidently the leader of the band, as I had noted that they seemed to have moved
to their present position at his direction. When his force had come to a halt he dismounted,
threw down his spear and small arms, and came around the end of the incubator toward me,
entirely unarmed and as naked as I, except for the ornaments strapped upon his head,
limbs, and breast. When he was within about fifty feet of me
he unclasped an enormous metal armlet, and holding it toward me in the open palm of his
hand, addressed me in a clear, resonant voice, but in a language, it is needless to say,
I could not understand. He then stopped as though waiting for my reply, pricking up his
antennae-like ears and cocking his strange-looking eyes still further toward me.
As the silence became painful I concluded to hazard a little conversation on my own
part, as I had guessed that he was making overtures of peace. The throwing down of his
weapons and the withdrawing of his troop before his advance toward me would have signified
a peaceful mission anywhere on Earth, so why not, then, on Mars!
Placing my hand over my heart I bowed low to the Martian and explained to him that while
I did not understand his language, his actions spoke for the peace and friendship that at
the present moment were most dear to my heart. Of course I might have been a babbling brook
for all the intelligence my speech carried to him, but he understood the action with
which I immediately followed my words. Stretching my hand toward him, I advanced
and took the armlet from his open palm, clasping it about my arm above the elbow; smiled at
him and stood waiting. His wide mouth spread into an answering smile, and locking one of
his intermediary arms in mine we turned and walked back toward his mount. At the same
time he motioned his followers to advance. They started toward us on a wild run, but
were checked by a signal from him. Evidently he feared that were I to be really frightened
again I might jump entirely out of the landscape. He exchanged a few words with his men, motioned
to me that I would ride behind one of them, and then mounted his own animal. The fellow
designated reached down two or three hands and lifted me up behind him on the glossy
back of his mount, where I hung on as best I could by the belts and straps which held
the Martian's weapons and ornaments. The entire cavalcade then turned and galloped
away toward the range of hills in the distance.
CHAPTER IV A PRISONER
We had gone perhaps ten miles when the ground began to rise very rapidly. We were, as I
was later to learn, nearing the edge of one of Mars' long-dead seas, in the bottom of
which my encounter with the Martians had taken place.
In a short time we gained the foot of the mountains, and after traversing a narrow gorge
came to an open valley, at the far extremity of which was a low table land upon which I
beheld an enormous city. Toward this we galloped, entering it by what appeared to be a ruined
roadway leading out from the city, but only to the edge of the table land, where it ended
abruptly in a flight of broad steps. Upon closer observation I saw as we passed
them that the buildings were deserted, and while not greatly decayed had the appearance
of not having been tenanted for years, possibly for ages. Toward the center of the city was
a large plaza, and upon this and in the buildings immediately surrounding it were camped some
nine or ten hundred creatures of the same breed as my captors, for such I now considered
them despite the suave manner in which I had been trapped.
With the exception of their ornaments all were naked. The women varied in appearance
but little from the men, except that their tusks were much larger in proportion to their
height, in some instances curving nearly to their high-set ears. Their bodies were smaller
and lighter in color, and their fingers and toes bore the rudiments of nails, which were
entirely lacking among the males. The adult females ranged in height from ten to twelve
feet. The children were light in color, even lighter
than the women, and all looked precisely alike to me, except that some were taller than others;
older, I presumed. I saw no signs of extreme age among them,
nor is there any appreciable difference in their appearance from the age of maturity,
about forty, until, at about the age of one thousand years, they go voluntarily upon their
last strange pilgrimage down the river Iss, which leads no living Martian knows whither
and from whose *** no Martian has ever returned, or would be allowed to live did he return
after once embarking upon its cold, dark waters. Only about one Martian in a thousand dies
of sickness or disease, and possibly about twenty take the voluntary pilgrimage. The
other nine hundred and seventy-nine die violent deaths in duels, in hunting, in aviation and
in war; but perhaps by far the greatest death loss comes during the age of childhood, when
vast numbers of the little Martians fall victims to the great white apes of Mars.
The average life expectancy of a Martian after the age of maturity is about three hundred
years, but would be nearer the one-thousand mark were it not for the various means leading
to violent death. Owing to the waning resources of the planet it evidently became necessary
to counteract the increasing longevity which their remarkable skill in therapeutics and
surgery produced, and so human life has come to be considered but lightly on Mars, as is
evidenced by their dangerous sports and the almost continual warfare between the various
communities. There are other and natural causes tending
toward a diminution of population, but nothing contributes so greatly to this end as the
fact that no male or female Martian is ever voluntarily without a weapon of destruction.
As we neared the plaza and my presence was discovered we were immediately surrounded
by hundreds of the creatures who seemed anxious to pluck me from my seat behind my guard.
A word from the leader of the party stilled their clamor, and we proceeded at a trot across
the plaza to the entrance of as magnificent an edifice as mortal eye has rested upon.
The building was low, but covered an enormous area. It was constructed of gleaming white
marble inlaid with gold and brilliant stones which sparkled and scintillated in the sunlight.
The main entrance was some hundred feet in width and projected from the building proper
to form a huge canopy above the entrance hall. There was no stairway, but a gentle incline
to the first floor of the building opened into an enormous chamber encircled by galleries.
On the floor of this chamber, which was dotted with highly carved wooden desks and chairs,
were assembled about forty or fifty male Martians around the steps of a rostrum. On the platform
proper squatted an enormous warrior heavily loaded with metal ornaments, gay-colored feathers
and beautifully wrought leather trappings ingeniously set with precious stones. From
his shoulders depended a short cape of white fur lined with brilliant scarlet silk.
What struck me as most remarkable about this assemblage and the hall in which they were
congregated was the fact that the creatures were entirely out of proportion to the desks,
chairs, and other furnishings; these being of a size adapted to human beings such as
I, whereas the great bulks of the Martians could scarcely have squeezed into the chairs,
nor was there room beneath the desks for their long legs. Evidently, then, there were other
denizens on Mars than the wild and grotesque creatures into whose hands I had fallen, but
the evidences of extreme antiquity which showed all around me indicated that these buildings
might have belonged to some long-extinct and forgotten race in the dim antiquity of Mars.
Our party had halted at the entrance to the building, and at a sign from the leader I
had been lowered to the ground. Again locking his arm in mine, we had proceeded into the
audience chamber. There were few formalities observed in approaching the Martian chieftain.
My captor merely strode up to the rostrum, the others making way for him as he advanced.
The chieftain rose to his feet and uttered the name of my escort who, in turn, halted
and repeated the name of the ruler followed by his title.
At the time, this ceremony and the words they uttered meant nothing to me, but later I came
to know that this was the customary greeting between green Martians. Had the men been strangers,
and therefore unable to exchange names, they would have silently exchanged ornaments, had
their missions been peaceful otherwise they would have exchanged shots, or have fought
out their introduction with some other of their various weapons.
My captor, whose name was Tars Tarkas, was virtually the vice-chieftain of the community,
and a man of great ability as a statesman and warrior. He evidently explained briefly
the incidents connected with his expedition, including my capture, and when he had concluded
the chieftain addressed me at some length. I replied in our good old English tongue merely
to convince him that neither of us could understand the other; but I noticed that when I smiled
slightly on concluding, he did likewise. This fact, and the similar occurrence during my
first talk with Tars Tarkas, convinced me that we had at least something in common;
the ability to smile, therefore to laugh; denoting a sense of humor. But I was to learn
that the Martian smile is merely perfunctory, and that the Martian laugh is a thing to cause
strong men to blanch in horror. The ideas of humor among the green men of
Mars are widely at variance with our conceptions of incitants to merriment. The death agonies
of a fellow being are, to these strange creatures, provocative of the wildest hilarity, while
their chief form of commonest amusement is to inflict death on their prisoners of war
in various ingenious and horrible ways. The assembled warriors and chieftains examined
me closely, feeling my muscles and the texture of my skin. The principal chieftain then evidently
signified a desire to see me perform, and, motioning me to follow, he started with Tars
Tarkas for the open plaza. Now, I had made no attempt to walk, since
my first signal failure, except while tightly grasping Tars Tarkas' arm, and so now I went
skipping and flitting about among the desks and chairs like some monstrous grasshopper.
After bruising myself severely, much to the amusement of the Martians, I again had recourse
to creeping, but this did not suit them and I was roughly *** to my feet by a towering
fellow who had laughed most heartily at my misfortunes.
As he banged me down upon my feet his face was bent close to mine and I did the only
thing a gentleman might do under the circumstances of brutality, boorishness, and lack of consideration
for a stranger's rights; I swung my fist squarely to his jaw and he went down like a felled
ox. As he sunk to the floor I wheeled around with my back toward the nearest desk, expecting
to be overwhelmed by the vengeance of his fellows, but determined to give them as good
a battle as the unequal odds would permit before I gave up my life.
My fears were groundless, however, as the other Martians, at first struck dumb with
wonderment, finally broke into wild peals of laughter and applause. I did not recognize
the applause as such, but later, when I had become acquainted with their customs, I learned
that I had won what they seldom accord, a manifestation of approbation.
The fellow whom I had struck lay where he had fallen, nor did any of his mates approach
him. Tars Tarkas advanced toward me, holding out one of his arms, and we thus proceeded
to the plaza without further mishap. I did not, of course, know the reason for which
we had come to the open, but I was not long in being enlightened. They first repeated
the word "sak" a number of times, and then Tars Tarkas made several jumps, repeating
the same word before each leap; then, turning to me, he said, "sak!" I saw what they were
after, and gathering myself together I "sakked" with such marvelous success that I cleared
a good hundred and fifty feet; nor did I, this time, lose my equilibrium, but landed
squarely upon my feet without falling. I then returned by easy jumps of twenty-five or thirty
feet to the little group of warriors. My exhibition had been witnessed by several
hundred lesser Martians, and they immediately broke into demands for a repetition, which
the chieftain then ordered me to make; but I was both hungry and thirsty, and determined
on the spot that my only method of salvation was to demand the consideration from these
creatures which they evidently would not voluntarily accord. I therefore ignored the repeated commands
to "sak," and each time they were made I motioned to my mouth and rubbed my stomach.
Tars Tarkas and the chief exchanged a few words, and the former, calling to a young
female among the throng, gave her some instructions and motioned me to accompany her. I grasped
her proffered arm and together we crossed the plaza toward a large building on the far
side. My fair companion was about eight feet tall,
having just arrived at maturity, but not yet to her full height. She was of a light olive-green
color, with a smooth, glossy hide. Her name, as I afterward learned, was Sola, and she
belonged to the retinue of Tars Tarkas. She conducted me to a spacious chamber in one
of the buildings fronting on the plaza, and which, from the litter of silks and furs upon
the floor, I took to be the sleeping quarters of several of the natives.
The room was well lighted by a number of large windows and was beautifully decorated with
mural paintings and mosaics, but upon all there seemed to rest that indefinable touch
of the finger of antiquity which convinced me that the architects and builders of these
wondrous creations had nothing in common with the crude half-brutes which now occupied them.
Sola motioned me to be seated upon a pile of silks near the center of the room, and,
turning, made a peculiar hissing sound, as though signaling to someone in an adjoining
room. In response to her call I obtained my first sight of a new Martian wonder. It waddled
in on its ten short legs, and squatted down before the girl like an obedient puppy. The
thing was about the size of a Shetland pony, but its head bore a slight resemblance to
that of a frog, except that the jaws were equipped with three rows of long, sharp tusks.
CHAPTER V I ELUDE MY WATCH DOG
Sola stared into the brute's wicked-looking eyes, muttered a word or two of command, pointed
to me, and left the chamber. I could not but wonder what this ferocious-looking monstrosity
might do when left alone in such close proximity to such a relatively tender morsel of meat;
but my fears were groundless, as the beast, after surveying me intently for a moment,
crossed the room to the only exit which led to the street, and lay down full length across
the threshold. This was my first experience with a Martian
watch dog, but it was destined not to be my last, for this fellow guarded me carefully
during the time I remained a captive among these green men; twice saving my life, and
never voluntarily being away from me a moment. While Sola was away I took occasion to examine
more minutely the room in which I found myself captive. The mural painting depicted scenes
of rare and wonderful beauty; mountains, rivers, lake, ocean, meadow, trees and flowers, winding
roadways, sun-kissed gardens scenes which might have portrayed earthly views but for
the different colorings of the vegetation. The work had evidently been wrought by a master
hand, so subtle the atmosphere, so perfect the technique; yet nowhere was there a representation
of a living animal, either human or brute, by which I could guess at the likeness of
these other and perhaps extinct denizens of Mars.
While I was allowing my fancy to run riot in wild conjecture on the possible explanation
of the strange anomalies which I had so far met with on Mars, Sola returned bearing both
food and drink. These she placed on the floor beside me, and seating herself a short ways
off regarded me intently. The food consisted of about a pound of some solid substance of
the consistency of cheese and almost tasteless, while the liquid was apparently milk from
some animal. It was not unpleasant to the taste, though slightly acid, and I learned
in a short time to prize it very highly. It came, as I later discovered, not from an animal,
as there is only one mammal on Mars and that one very rare indeed, but from a large plant
which grows practically without water, but seems to distill its plentiful supply of milk
from the products of the soil, the moisture of the air, and the rays of the sun. A single
plant of this species will give eight or ten quarts of milk per day.
After I had eaten I was greatly invigorated, but feeling the need of rest I stretched out
upon the silks and was soon asleep. I must have slept several hours, as it was dark when
I awoke, and I was very cold. I noticed that someone had thrown a fur over me, but it had
become partially dislodged and in the darkness I could not see to replace it. Suddenly a
hand reached out and pulled the fur over me, shortly afterwards adding another to my covering.
I presumed that my watchful guardian was Sola, nor was I wrong. This girl alone, among all
the green Martians with whom I came in contact, disclosed characteristics of sympathy, kindliness,
and affection; her ministrations to my bodily wants were unfailing, and her solicitous care
saved me from much suffering and many hardships. As I was to learn, the Martian nights are
extremely cold, and as there is practically no twilight or dawn, the changes in temperature
are sudden and most uncomfortable, as are the transitions from brilliant daylight to
darkness. The nights are either brilliantly illumined or very dark, for if neither of
the two moons of Mars happen to be in the sky almost total darkness results, since the
lack of atmosphere, or, rather, the very thin atmosphere, fails to diffuse the starlight
to any great extent; on the other hand, if both of the moons are in the heavens at night
the surface of the ground is brightly illuminated. Both of Mars' moons are vastly nearer her
than is our moon to Earth; the nearer moon being but about five thousand miles distant,
while the further is but little more than fourteen thousand miles away, against the
nearly one-quarter million miles which separate us from our moon. The nearer moon of Mars
makes a complete revolution around the planet in a little over seven and one-half hours,
so that she may be seen hurtling through the sky like some huge meteor two or three times
each night, revealing all her phases during each transit of the heavens.
The further moon revolves about Mars in something over thirty and one-quarter hours, and with
her sister satellite makes a nocturnal Martian scene one of splendid and weird grandeur.
And it is well that nature has so graciously and abundantly lighted the Martian night,
for the green men of Mars, being a nomadic race without high intellectual development,
have but crude means for artificial lighting; depending principally upon torches, a kind
of candle, and a peculiar oil lamp which generates a gas and burns without a wick.
This last device produces an intensely brilliant far-reaching white light, but as the natural
oil which it requires can only be obtained by mining in one of several widely separated
and remote localities it is seldom used by these creatures whose only thought is for
today, and whose hatred for manual labor has kept them in a semi-barbaric state for countless
ages. After Sola had replenished my coverings I
again slept, nor did I awaken until daylight. The other occupants of the room, five in number,
were all females, and they were still sleeping, piled high with a motley array of silks and
furs. Across the threshold lay stretched the sleepless guardian brute, just as I had last
seen him on the preceding day; apparently he had not moved a muscle; his eyes were fairly
glued upon me, and I fell to wondering just what might befall me should I endeavor to
escape. I have ever been prone to seek adventure and
to investigate and experiment where wiser men would have left well enough alone. It
therefore now occurred to me that the surest way of learning the exact attitude of this
beast toward me would be to attempt to leave the room. I felt fairly secure in my belief
that I could escape him should he pursue me once I was outside the building, for I had
begun to take great pride in my ability as a jumper. Furthermore, I could see from the
shortness of his legs that the brute himself was no jumper and probably no runner.
Slowly and carefully, therefore, I gained my feet, only to see that my watcher did the
same; cautiously I advanced toward him, finding that by moving with a shuffling gait I could
retain my balance as well as make reasonably rapid progress. As I neared the brute he backed
cautiously away from me, and when I had reached the open he moved to one side to let me pass.
He then fell in behind me and followed about ten paces in my rear as I made my way along
the deserted street. Evidently his mission was to protect me only,
I thought, but when we reached the edge of the city he suddenly sprang before me, uttering
strange sounds and baring his ugly and ferocious tusks. Thinking to have some amusement at
his expense, I rushed toward him, and when almost upon him sprang into the air, alighting
far beyond him and away from the city. He wheeled instantly and charged me with the
most appalling speed I had ever beheld. I had thought his short legs a bar to swiftness,
but had he been coursing with greyhounds the latter would have appeared as though asleep
on a door mat. As I was to learn, this is the fleetest animal on Mars, and owing to
its intelligence, loyalty, and ferocity is used in hunting, in war, and as the protector
of the Martian man. I quickly saw that I would have difficulty
in escaping the fangs of the beast on a straightaway course, and so I met his charge by doubling
in my tracks and leaping over him as he was almost upon me. This maneuver gave me a considerable
advantage, and I was able to reach the city quite a bit ahead of him, and as he came tearing
after me I jumped for a window about thirty feet from the ground in the face of one of
the buildings overlooking the valley. Grasping the sill I pulled myself up to a
sitting posture without looking into the building, and gazed down at the baffled animal beneath
me. My exultation was short-lived, however, for scarcely had I gained a secure seat upon
the sill than a huge hand grasped me by the neck from behind and dragged me violently
into the room. Here I was thrown upon my back, and beheld standing over me a colossal ape-like
creature, white and hairless except for an enormous shock of bristly hair upon its head.
CHAPTER VI A FIGHT THAT WON FRIENDS
The thing, which more nearly resembled our earthly men than it did the Martians I had
seen, held me pinioned to the ground with one huge foot, while it jabbered and gesticulated
at some answering creature behind me. This other, which was evidently its mate, soon
came toward us, bearing a mighty stone cudgel with which it evidently intended to brain
me. The creatures were about ten or fifteen feet
tall, standing erect, and had, like the green Martians, an intermediary set of arms or legs,
midway between their upper and lower limbs. Their eyes were close together and non-protruding;
their ears were high set, but more laterally located than those of the Martians, while
their snouts and teeth were strikingly like those of our African gorilla. Altogether they
were not unlovely when viewed in comparison with the green Martians.
The cudgel was swinging in the arc which ended upon my upturned face when a bolt of myriad-legged
horror hurled itself through the doorway full upon the breast of my executioner. With a
shriek of fear the ape which held me leaped through the open window, but its mate closed
in a terrific death struggle with my preserver, which was nothing less than my faithful watch-thing;
I cannot bring myself to call so hideous a creature a dog.
As quickly as possible I gained my feet and backing against the wall I witnessed such
a battle as it is vouchsafed few beings to see. The strength, agility, and blind ferocity
of these two creatures is approached by nothing known to earthly man. My beast had an advantage
in his first hold, having sunk his mighty fangs far into the breast of his adversary;
but the great arms and paws of the ape, backed by muscles far transcending those of the Martian
men I had seen, had locked the throat of my guardian and slowly were choking out his life,
and bending back his head and neck upon his body, where I momentarily expected the former
to fall limp at the end of a broken neck. In accomplishing this the ape was tearing
away the entire front of its breast, which was held in the vise-like grip of the powerful
jaws. Back and forth upon the floor they rolled, neither one emitting a sound of fear or pain.
Presently I saw the great eyes of my beast bulging completely from their sockets and
blood flowing from its nostrils. That he was weakening perceptibly was evident, but so
also was the ape, whose struggles were growing momentarily less.
Suddenly I came to myself and, with that strange instinct which seems ever to prompt me to
my duty, I seized the cudgel, which had fallen to the floor at the commencement of the battle,
and swinging it with all the power of my earthly arms I crashed it full upon the head of the
ape, crushing his skull as though it had been an eggshell.
Scarcely had the blow descended when I was confronted with a new danger. The ape's mate,
recovered from its first shock of terror, had returned to the scene of the encounter
by way of the interior of the building. I glimpsed him just before he reached the doorway
and the sight of him, now roaring as he perceived his lifeless fellow stretched upon the floor,
and frothing at the mouth, in the extremity of his rage, filled me, I must confess, with
dire forebodings. I am ever willing to stand and fight when
the odds are not too overwhelmingly against me, but in this instance I perceived neither
glory nor profit in pitting my relatively puny strength against the iron muscles and
brutal ferocity of this enraged denizen of an unknown world; in fact, the only outcome
of such an encounter, so far as I might be concerned, seemed sudden death.
I was standing near the window and I knew that once in the street I might gain the plaza
and safety before the creature could overtake me; at least there was a chance for safety
in flight, against almost certain death should I remain and fight however desperately.
It is true I held the cudgel, but what could I do with it against his four great arms?
Even should I break one of them with my first blow, for I figured that he would attempt
to ward off the cudgel, he could reach out and annihilate me with the others before I
could recover for a second attack. In the instant that these thoughts passed
through my mind I had turned to make for the window, but my eyes alighting on the form
of my erstwhile guardian threw all thoughts of flight to the four winds. He lay gasping
upon the floor of the chamber, his great eyes fastened upon me in what seemed a pitiful
appeal for protection. I could not withstand that look, nor could I, on second thought,
have deserted my rescuer without giving as good an account of myself in his behalf as
he had in mine. Without more ado, therefore, I turned to meet
the charge of the infuriated bull ape. He was now too close upon me for the cudgel to
prove of any effective assistance, so I merely threw it as heavily as I could at his advancing
bulk. It struck him just below the knees, eliciting a howl of pain and rage, and so
throwing him off his balance that he lunged full upon me with arms wide stretched to ease
his fall. Again, as on the preceding day, I had recourse
to earthly tactics, and swinging my right fist full upon the point of his chin I followed
it with a smashing left to the pit of his stomach. The effect was marvelous, for, as
I lightly sidestepped, after delivering the second blow, he reeled and fell upon the floor
doubled up with pain and gasping for wind. Leaping over his prostrate body, I seized
the cudgel and finished the monster before he could regain his feet.
As I delivered the blow a low laugh rang out behind me, and, turning, I beheld Tars Tarkas,
Sola, and three or four warriors standing in the doorway of the chamber. As my eyes
met theirs I was, for the second time, the recipient of their zealously guarded applause.
My absence had been noted by Sola on her awakening, and she had quickly informed Tars Tarkas,
who had set out immediately with a handful of warriors to search for me. As they had
approached the limits of the city they had witnessed the actions of the bull ape as he
bolted into the building, frothing with rage. They had followed immediately behind him,
thinking it barely possible that his actions might prove a clew to my whereabouts and had
witnessed my short but decisive battle with him. This encounter, together with my set-to
with the Martian warrior on the previous day and my feats of jumping placed me upon a high
pinnacle in their regard. Evidently devoid of all the finer sentiments of friendship,
love, or affection, these people fairly worship physical prowess and bravery, and nothing
is too good for the object of their adoration as long as he maintains his position by repeated
examples of his skill, strength, and courage. Sola, who had accompanied the searching party
of her own volition, was the only one of the Martians whose face had not been twisted in
laughter as I battled for my life. She, on the contrary, was sober with apparent solicitude
and, as soon as I had finished the monster, rushed to me and carefully examined my body
for possible wounds or injuries. Satisfying herself that I had come off unscathed she
smiled quietly, and, taking my hand, started toward the door of the chamber.
Tars Tarkas and the other warriors had entered and were standing over the now rapidly reviving
brute which had saved my life, and whose life I, in turn, had rescued. They seemed to be
deep in argument, and finally one of them addressed me, but remembering my ignorance
of his language turned back to Tars Tarkas, who, with a word and gesture, gave some command
to the fellow and turned to follow us from the room.
There seemed something menacing in their attitude toward my beast, and I hesitated to leave
until I had learned the outcome. It was well I did so, for the warrior drew an evil looking
pistol from its holster and was on the point of putting an end to the creature when I sprang
forward and struck up his arm. The bullet striking the wooden casing of the window exploded,
blowing a hole completely through the wood and masonry.
I then knelt down beside the fearsome-looking thing, and raising it to its feet motioned
for it to follow me. The looks of surprise which my actions elicited from the Martians
were ludicrous; they could not understand, except in a feeble and childish way, such
attributes as gratitude and compassion. The warrior whose gun I had struck up looked enquiringly
at Tars Tarkas, but the latter signed that I be left to my own devices, and so we returned
to the plaza with my great beast following close at heel, and Sola grasping me tightly
by the arm. I had at least two friends on Mars; a young
woman who watched over me with motherly solicitude, and a dumb brute which, as I later came to
know, held in its poor ugly carcass more love, more loyalty, more gratitude than could have
been found in the entire five million green Martians who rove the deserted cities and
dead sea bottoms of Mars.
CHAPTER VII CHILD-RAISING ON MARS
After a breakfast, which was an exact replica of the meal of the preceding day and an index
of practically every meal which followed while I was with the green men of Mars, Sola escorted
me to the plaza, where I found the entire community engaged in watching or helping at
the harnessing of huge mastodonian animals to great three-wheeled chariots. There were
about two hundred and fifty of these vehicles, each drawn by a single animal, any one of
which, from their appearance, might easily have drawn the entire wagon train when fully
loaded. The chariots themselves were large, commodious,
and gorgeously decorated. In each was seated a female Martian loaded with ornaments of
metal, with jewels and silks and furs, and upon the back of each of the beasts which
drew the chariots was perched a young Martian driver. Like the animals upon which the warriors
were mounted, the heavier draft animals wore neither bit nor bridle, but were guided entirely
by telepathic means. This power is wonderfully developed in all
Martians, and accounts largely for the simplicity of their language and the relatively few spoken
words exchanged even in long conversations. It is the universal language of Mars, through
the medium of which the higher and lower animals of this world of paradoxes are able to communicate
to a greater or less extent, depending upon the intellectual sphere of the species and
the development of the individual. As the cavalcade took up the line of march
in single file, Sola dragged me into an empty chariot and we proceeded with the procession
toward the point by which I had entered the city the day before. At the head of the caravan
rode some two hundred warriors, five abreast, and a like number brought up the rear, while
twenty-five or thirty outriders flanked us on either side.
Every one but myself men, women, and children were heavily armed, and at the tail of each
chariot trotted a Martian hound, my own beast following closely behind ours; in fact, the
faithful creature never left me voluntarily during the entire ten years I spent on Mars.
Our way led out across the little valley before the city, through the hills, and down into
the dead sea bottom which I had traversed on my journey from the incubator to the plaza.
The incubator, as it proved, was the terminal point of our journey this day, and, as the
entire cavalcade broke into a mad gallop as soon as we reached the level expanse of sea
bottom, we were soon within sight of our goal. On reaching it the chariots were parked with
military precision on the four sides of the enclosure, and half a score of warriors, headed
by the enormous chieftain, and including Tars Tarkas and several other lesser chiefs, dismounted
and advanced toward it. I could see Tars Tarkas explaining something to the principal chieftain,
whose name, by the way, was, as nearly as I can translate it into English, Lorquas Ptomel,
Jed; jed being his title. I was soon appraised of the subject of their
conversation, as, calling to Sola, Tars Tarkas signed for her to send me to him. I had by
this time mastered the intricacies of walking under Martian conditions, and quickly responding
to his command I advanced to the side of the incubator where the warriors stood.
As I reached their side a glance showed me that all but a very few eggs had hatched,
the incubator being fairly alive with the hideous little devils. They ranged in height
from three to four feet, and were moving restlessly about the enclosure as though searching for
food. As I came to a halt before him, Tars Tarkas
pointed over the incubator and said, "Sak." I saw that he wanted me to repeat my performance
of yesterday for the edification of Lorquas Ptomel, and, as I must confess that my prowess
gave me no little satisfaction, I responded quickly, leaping entirely over the parked
chariots on the far side of the incubator. As I returned, Lorquas Ptomel grunted something
at me, and turning to his warriors gave a few words of command relative to the incubator.
They paid no further attention to me and I was thus permitted to remain close and watch
their operations, which consisted in breaking an opening in the wall of the incubator large
enough to permit of the exit of the young Martians.
On either side of this opening the women and the younger Martians, both male and female,
formed two solid walls leading out through the chariots and quite away into the plain
beyond. Between these walls the little Martians scampered, wild as deer; being permitted to
run the full length of the aisle, where they were captured one at a time by the women and
older children; the last in the line capturing the first little one to reach the end of the
gauntlet, her opposite in the line capturing the second, and so on until all the little
fellows had left the enclosure and been appropriated by some youth or female. As the women caught
the young they fell out of line and returned to their respective chariots, while those
who fell into the hands of the young men were later turned over to some of the women.
I saw that the ceremony, if it could be dignified by such a name, was over, and seeking out
Sola I found her in our chariot with a hideous little creature held tightly in her arms.
The work of rearing young, green Martians consists solely in teaching them to talk,
and to use the weapons of warfare with which they are loaded down from the very first year
of their lives. Coming from eggs in which they have lain for five years, the period
of incubation, they step forth into the world perfectly developed except in size. Entirely
unknown to their mothers, who, in turn, would have difficulty in pointing out the fathers
with any degree of accuracy, they are the common children of the community, and their
education devolves upon the females who chance to capture them as they leave the incubator.
Their foster mothers may not even have had an egg in the incubator, as was the case with
Sola, who had not commenced to lay, until less than a year before she became the mother
of another woman's offspring. But this counts for little among the green Martians, as parental
and filial love is as unknown to them as it is common among us. I believe this horrible
system which has been carried on for ages is the direct cause of the loss of all the
finer feelings and higher humanitarian instincts among these poor creatures. From birth they
know no father or mother love, they know not the meaning of the word home; they are taught
that they are only suffered to live until they can demonstrate by their physique and
ferocity that they are fit to live. Should they prove deformed or defective in any way
they are promptly shot; nor do they see a tear shed for a single one of the many cruel
hardships they pass through from earliest infancy.
I do not mean that the adult Martians are unnecessarily or intentionally cruel to the
young, but theirs is a hard and pitiless struggle for existence upon a dying planet, the natural
resources of which have dwindled to a point where the support of each additional life
means an added tax upon the community into which it is thrown.
By careful selection they rear only the hardiest specimens of each species, and with almost
supernatural foresight they regulate the birth rate to merely offset the loss by death.
Each adult Martian female brings forth about thirteen eggs each year, and those which meet
the size, weight, and specific gravity tests are hidden in the recesses of some subterranean
vault where the temperature is too low for incubation. Every year these eggs are carefully
examined by a council of twenty chieftains, and all but about one hundred of the most
perfect are destroyed out of each yearly supply. At the end of five years about five hundred
almost perfect eggs have been chosen from the thousands brought forth. These are then
placed in the almost air-tight incubators to be hatched by the sun's rays after a period
of another five years. The hatching which we had witnessed today was a fairly representative
event of its kind, all but about one per cent of the eggs hatching in two days. If the remaining
eggs ever hatched we knew nothing of the fate of the little Martians. They were not wanted,
as their offspring might inherit and transmit the tendency to prolonged incubation, and
thus upset the system which has maintained for ages and which permits the adult Martians
to figure the proper time for return to the incubators, almost to an hour.
The incubators are built in remote fastnesses, where there is little or no likelihood of
their being discovered by other tribes. The result of such a catastrophe would mean no
children in the community for another five years. I was later to witness the results
of the discovery of an alien incubator. The community of which the green Martians
with whom my lot was cast formed a part was composed of some thirty thousand souls. They
roamed an enormous tract of arid and semi-arid land between forty and eighty degrees south
latitude, and bounded on the east and west by two large fertile tracts. Their headquarters
lay in the southwest corner of this district, near the crossing of two of the so-called
Martian canals. As the incubator had been placed far north
of their own territory in a supposedly uninhabited and unfrequented area, we had before us a
tremendous journey, concerning which I, of course, knew nothing.
After our return to the dead city I passed several days in comparative idleness. On the
day following our return all the warriors had ridden forth early in the morning and
had not returned until just before darkness fell. As I later learned, they had been to
the subterranean vaults in which the eggs were kept and had transported them to the
incubator, which they had then walled up for another five years, and which, in all probability,
would not be visited again during that period. The vaults which hid the eggs until they were
ready for the incubator were located many miles south of the incubator, and would be
visited yearly by the council of twenty chieftains. Why they did not arrange to build their vaults
and incubators nearer home has always been a mystery to me, and, like many other Martian
mysteries, unsolved and unsolvable by earthly reasoning and customs.
Sola's duties were now doubled, as she was compelled to care for the young Martian as
well as for me, but neither one of us required much attention, and as we were both about
equally advanced in Martian education, Sola took it upon herself to train us together.
Her prize consisted in a male about four feet tall, very strong and physically perfect;
also, he learned quickly, and we had considerable amusement, at least I did, over the keen rivalry
we displayed. The Martian language, as I have said, is extremely simple, and in a week I
could make all my wants known and understand nearly everything that was said to me. Likewise,
under Sola's tutelage, I developed my telepathic powers so that I shortly could sense practically
everything that went on around me. What surprised Sola most in me was that while
I could catch telepathic messages easily from others, and often when they were not intended
for me, no one could read a jot from my mind under any circumstances. At first this vexed
me, but later I was very glad of it, as it gave me an undoubted advantage over the Martians.
CHAPTER VIII A FAIR CAPTIVE FROM THE SKY
The third day after the incubator ceremony we set forth toward home, but scarcely had
the head of the procession debouched into the open ground before the city than orders
were given for an immediate and hasty return. As though trained for years in this particular
evolution, the green Martians melted like mist into the spacious doorways of the nearby
buildings, until, in less than three minutes, the entire cavalcade of chariots, mastodons
and mounted warriors was nowhere to be seen. Sola and I had entered a building upon the
front of the city, in fact, the same one in which I had had my encounter with the apes,
and, wishing to see what had caused the sudden retreat, I mounted to an upper floor and peered
from the window out over the valley and the hills beyond; and there I saw the cause of
their sudden scurrying to cover. A huge craft, long, low, and gray-painted, swung slowly
over the crest of the nearest hill. Following it came another, and another, and another,
until twenty of them, swinging low above the ground, sailed slowly and majestically toward
us. Each carried a strange banner swung from stem
to stern above the upper works, and upon the prow of each was painted some odd device that
gleamed in the sunlight and showed plainly even at the distance at which we were from
the vessels. I could see figures crowding the forward decks and upper works of the air
craft. Whether they had discovered us or simply were looking at the deserted city I could
not say, but in any event they received a rude reception, for suddenly and without warning
the green Martian warriors fired a terrific volley from the windows of the buildings facing
the little valley across which the great ships were so peacefully advancing.
Instantly the scene changed as by magic; the foremost vessel swung broadside toward us,
and bringing her guns into play returned our fire, at the same time moving parallel to
our front for a short distance and then turning back with the evident intention of completing
a great circle which would bring her up to position once more opposite our firing line;
the other vessels followed in her wake, each one opening upon us as she swung into position.
Our own fire never diminished, and I doubt if twenty-five per cent of our shots went
wild. It had never been given me to see such deadly accuracy of aim, and it seemed as though
a little figure on one of the craft dropped at the explosion of each bullet, while the
banners and upper works dissolved in spurts of flame as the irresistible projectiles of
our warriors mowed through them. The fire from the vessels was most ineffectual,
owing, as I afterward learned, to the unexpected suddenness of the first volley, which caught
the ship's crews entirely unprepared and the sighting apparatus of the guns unprotected
from the deadly aim of our warriors. It seems that each green warrior has certain
objective points for his fire under relatively identical circumstances of warfare. For example,
a proportion of them, always the best marksmen, direct their fire entirely upon the wireless
finding and sighting apparatus of the big guns of an attacking naval force; another
detail attends to the smaller guns in the same way; others pick off the gunners; still
others the officers; while certain other quotas concentrate their attention upon the other
members of the crew, upon the upper works, and upon the steering gear and propellers.
Twenty minutes after the first volley the great fleet swung trailing off in the direction
from which it had first appeared. Several of the craft were limping perceptibly, and
seemed but barely under the control of their depleted crews. Their fire had ceased entirely
and all their energies seemed focused upon escape. Our warriors then rushed up to the
roofs of the buildings which we occupied and followed the retreating armada with a continuous
fusillade of deadly fire. One by one, however, the ships managed to
dip below the crests of the outlying hills until only one barely moving craft was in
sight. This had received the brunt of our fire and seemed to be entirely unmanned, as
not a moving figure was visible upon her decks. Slowly she swung from her course, circling
back toward us in an erratic and pitiful manner. Instantly the warriors ceased firing, for
it was quite apparent that the vessel was entirely helpless, and, far from being in
a position to inflict harm upon us, she could not even control herself sufficiently to escape.
As she neared the city the warriors rushed out upon the plain to meet her, but it was
evident that she still was too high for them to hope to reach her decks. From my vantage
point in the window I could see the bodies of her crew strewn about, although I could
not make out what manner of creatures they might be. Not a sign of life was manifest
upon her as she drifted slowly with the light breeze in a southeasterly direction.
She was drifting some fifty feet above the ground, followed by all but some hundred of
the warriors who had been ordered back to the roofs to cover the possibility of a return
of the fleet, or of reinforcements. It soon became evident that she would strike the face
of the buildings about a mile south of our position, and as I watched the progress of
the chase I saw a number of warriors gallop ahead, dismount and enter the building she
seemed destined to touch. As the craft neared the building, and just
before she struck, the Martian warriors swarmed upon her from the windows, and with their
great spears eased the shock of the collision, and in a few moments they had thrown out grappling
hooks and the big boat was being hauled to ground by their fellows below.
After making her fast, they swarmed the sides and searched the vessel from stem to stern.
I could see them examining the dead sailors, evidently for signs of life, and presently
a party of them appeared from below dragging a little figure among them. The creature was
considerably less than half as tall as the green Martian warriors, and from my balcony
I could see that it walked erect upon two legs and surmised that it was some new and
strange Martian monstrosity with which I had not as yet become acquainted.
They removed their prisoner to the ground and then commenced a systematic rifling of
the vessel. This operation required several hours, during which time a number of the chariots
were requisitioned to transport the loot, which consisted in arms, ammunition, silks,
furs, jewels, strangely carved stone vessels, and a quantity of solid foods and liquids,
including many casks of water, the first I had seen since my advent upon Mars.
After the last load had been removed the warriors made lines fast to the craft and towed her
far out into the valley in a southwesterly direction. A few of them then boarded her
and were busily engaged in what appeared, from my distant position, as the emptying
of the contents of various carboys upon the dead bodies of the sailors and over the decks
and works of the vessel. This operation concluded, they hastily clambered
over her sides, sliding down the guy ropes to the ground. The last warrior to leave the
deck turned and threw something back upon the vessel, waiting an instant to note the
outcome of his act. As a faint spurt of flame rose from the point where the missile struck
he swung over the side and was quickly upon the ground. Scarcely had he alighted than
the guy ropes were simultaneously released, and the great warship, lightened by the removal
of the loot, soared majestically into the air, her decks and upper works a mass of roaring
flames. Slowly she drifted to the southeast, rising
higher and higher as the flames ate away her wooden parts and diminished the weight upon
her. Ascending to the roof of the building I watched her for hours, until finally she
was lost in the dim vistas of the distance. The sight was awe-inspiring in the extreme
as one contemplated this mighty floating funeral pyre, drifting unguided and unmanned through
the lonely wastes of the Martian heavens; a derelict of death and destruction, typifying
the life story of these strange and ferocious creatures into whose unfriendly hands fate
had carried it. Much depressed, and, to me, unaccountably
so, I slowly descended to the street. The scene I had witnessed seemed to mark the defeat
and annihilation of the forces of a kindred people, rather than the routing by our green
warriors of a horde of similar, though unfriendly, creatures. I could not fathom the seeming
hallucination, nor could I free myself from it; but somewhere in the innermost recesses
of my soul I felt a strange yearning toward these unknown foemen, and a mighty hope surged
through me that the fleet would return and demand a reckoning from the green warriors
who had so ruthlessly and wantonly attacked it.
Close at my heel, in his now accustomed place, followed Woola, the hound, and as I emerged
upon the street Sola rushed up to me as though I had been the object of some search on her
part. The cavalcade was returning to the plaza, the homeward march having been given up for
that day; nor, in fact, was it recommenced for more than a week, owing to the fear of
a return attack by the air craft. Lorquas Ptomel was too astute an old warrior
to be caught upon the open plains with a caravan of chariots and children, and so we remained
at the deserted city until the danger seemed passed.
As Sola and I entered the plaza a sight met my eyes which filled my whole being with a
great surge of mingled hope, fear, exultation, and depression, and yet most dominant was
a subtle sense of relief and happiness; for just as we neared the throng of Martians I
caught a glimpse of the prisoner from the battle craft who was being roughly dragged
into a nearby building by a couple of green Martian females.
And the sight which met my eyes was that of a slender, girlish figure, similar in every
detail to the earthly women of my past life. She did not see me at first, but just as she
was disappearing through the portal of the building which was to be her prison she turned,
and her eyes met mine. Her face was oval and beautiful in the extreme, her every feature
was finely chiseled and exquisite, her eyes large and lustrous and her head surmounted
by a mass of coal black, waving hair, caught loosely into a strange yet becoming coiffure.
Her skin was of a light reddish copper color, against which the crimson glow of her cheeks
and the ruby of her beautifully molded lips shone with a strangely enhancing effect.
She was as destitute of clothes as the green Martians who accompanied her; indeed, save
for her highly wrought ornaments she was entirely naked, nor could any apparel have enhanced
the beauty of her perfect and symmetrical figure.
As her gaze rested on me her eyes opened wide in astonishment, and she made a little sign
with her free hand; a sign which I did not, of course, understand. Just a moment we gazed
upon each other, and then the look of hope and renewed courage which had glorified her
face as she discovered me, faded into one of utter dejection, mingled with loathing
and contempt. I realized I had not answered her signal, and ignorant as I was of Martian
customs, I intuitively felt that she had made an appeal for succor and protection which
my unfortunate ignorance had prevented me from answering. And then she was dragged out
of my sight into the depths of the deserted edifice.
CHAPTER IX I LEARN THE LANGUAGE
As I came back to myself I glanced at Sola, who had witnessed this encounter and I was
surprised to note a strange expression upon her usually expressionless countenance. What
her thoughts were I did not know, for as yet I had learned but little of the Martian tongue;
enough only to suffice for my daily needs. As I reached the doorway of our building a
strange surprise awaited me. A warrior approached bearing the arms, ornaments, and full accouterments
of his kind. These he presented to me with a few unintelligible words, and a bearing
at once respectful and menacing. Later, Sola, with the aid of several of the
other women, remodeled the trappings to fit my lesser proportions, and after they completed
the work I went about garbed in all the panoply of war.
From then on Sola instructed me in the mysteries of the various weapons, and with the Martian
young I spent several hours each day practicing upon the plaza. I was not yet proficient with
all the weapons, but my great familiarity with similar earthly weapons made me an unusually
apt pupil, and I progressed in a very satisfactory manner.
The training of myself and the young Martians was conducted solely by the women, who not
only attend to the education of the young in the arts of individual defense and offense,
but are also the artisans who produce every manufactured article wrought by the green
Martians. They make the powder, the cartridges, the firearms; in fact everything of value
is produced by the females. In time of actual warfare they form a part of the reserves,
and when the necessity arises fight with even greater intelligence and ferocity than the
men. The men are trained in the higher branches
of the art of war; in strategy and the maneuvering of large bodies of troops. They make the laws
as they are needed; a new law for each emergency. They are unfettered by precedent in the administration
of justice. Customs have been handed down by ages of repetition, but the punishment
for ignoring a custom is a matter for individual treatment by a jury of the culprit's peers,
and I may say that justice seldom misses fire, but seems rather to rule in inverse ratio
to the ascendency of law. In one respect at least the Martians are a happy people; they
have no lawyers. I did not see the prisoner again for several
days subsequent to our first encounter, and then only to catch a fleeting glimpse of her
as she was being conducted to the great audience chamber where I had had my first meeting with
Lorquas Ptomel. I could not but note the unnecessary harshness and brutality with which her guards
treated her; so different from the almost maternal kindliness which Sola manifested
toward me, and the respectful attitude of the few green Martians who took the trouble
to notice me at all. I had observed on the two occasions when I
had seen her that the prisoner exchanged words with her guards, and this convinced me that
they spoke, or at least could make themselves understood by a common language. With this
added incentive I nearly drove Sola distracted by my importunities to hasten on my education
and within a few more days I had mastered the Martian tongue sufficiently well to enable
me to carry on a passable conversation and to fully understand practically all that I
heard. At this time our sleeping quarters were occupied
by three or four females and a couple of the recently hatched young, beside Sola and her
youthful ward, myself, and Woola the hound. After they had retired for the night it was
customary for the adults to carry on a desultory conversation for a short time before lapsing
into sleep, and now that I could understand their language I was always a keen listener,
although I never proffered any remarks myself. On the night following the prisoner's visit
to the audience chamber the conversation finally fell upon this subject, and I was all ears
on the instant. I had feared to question Sola relative to the beautiful captive, as I could
not but recall the strange expression I had noted upon her face after my first encounter
with the prisoner. That it denoted jealousy I could not say, and yet, judging all things
by mundane standards as I still did, I felt it safer to affect indifference in the matter
until I learned more surely Sola's attitude toward the object of my solicitude.
Sarkoja, one of the older women who shared our domicile, had been present at the audience
as one of the captive's guards, and it was toward her the question turned.
"When," asked one of the women, "will we enjoy the death throes of the red one? or does Lorquas
Ptomel, Jed, intend holding her for ransom?" "They have decided to carry her with us back
to Thark, and exhibit her last agonies at the great games before Tal Hajus," replied
Sarkoja. "What will be the manner of her going out?"
inquired Sola. "She is very small and very beautiful; I had hoped that they would hold
her for ransom." Sarkoja and the other women grunted angrily
at this evidence of weakness on the part of Sola.
"It is sad, Sola, that you were not born a million years ago," snapped Sarkoja, "when
all the hollows of the land were filled with water, and the peoples were as soft as the
stuff they sailed upon. In our day we have progressed to a point where such sentiments
mark weakness and atavism. It will not be well for you to permit Tars Tarkas to learn
that you hold such degenerate sentiments, as I doubt that he would care to entrust such
as you with the grave responsibilities of maternity."
"I see nothing wrong with my expression of interest in this red woman," retorted Sola.
"She has never harmed us, nor would she should we have fallen into her hands. It is only
the men of her kind who war upon us, and I have ever thought that their attitude toward
us is but the reflection of ours toward them. They live at peace with all their fellows,
except when duty calls upon them to make war, while we are at peace with none; forever warring
among our own kind as well as upon the red men, and even in our own communities the individuals
fight amongst themselves. Oh, it is one continual, awful period of bloodshed from the time we
break the shell until we gladly embrace the *** of the river of mystery, the dark and
ancient Iss which carries us to an unknown, but at least no more frightful and terrible
existence! Fortunate indeed is he who meets his end in an early death. Say what you please
to Tars Tarkas, he can mete out no worse fate to me than a continuation of the horrible
existence we are forced to lead in this life." This wild outbreak on the part of Sola so
greatly surprised and shocked the other women, that, after a few words of general reprimand,
they all lapsed into silence and were soon asleep. One thing the episode had accomplished
was to assure me of Sola's friendliness toward the poor girl, and also to convince me that
I had been extremely fortunate in falling into her hands rather than those of some of
the other females. I knew that she was fond of me, and now that I had discovered that
she hated cruelty and barbarity I was confident that I could depend upon her to aid me and
the girl captive to escape, provided of course that such a thing was within the range of
possibilities. I did not even know that there were any better
conditions to escape to, but I was more than willing to take my chances among people fashioned
after my own mold rather than to remain longer among the hideous and bloodthirsty green men
of Mars. But where to go, and how, was as much of a puzzle to me as the age-old search
for the spring of eternal life has been to earthly men since the beginning of time.
I decided that at the first opportunity I would take Sola into my confidence and openly
ask her to aid me, and with this resolution strong upon me I turned among my silks and
furs and slept the dreamless and refreshing sleep of Mars.
CHAPTER X CHAMPION AND CHIEF
Early the next morning I was astir. Considerable freedom was allowed me, as Sola had informed
me that so long as I did not attempt to leave the city I was free to go and come as I pleased.
She had warned me, however, against venturing forth unarmed, as this city, like all other
deserted metropolises of an ancient Martian civilization, was peopled by the great white
apes of my second day's adventure. In advising me that I must not leave the boundaries
of the city Sola had explained that Woola would prevent this anyway should I attempt
it, and she warned me most urgently not to arouse his fierce nature by ignoring his warnings
should I venture too close to the forbidden territory. His nature was such, she said,
that he would bring me back into the city dead or alive should I persist in opposing
him; "preferably dead," she added. On this morning I had chosen a new street
to explore when suddenly I found myself at the limits of the city. Before me were low
hills pierced by narrow and inviting ravines. I longed to explore the country before me,
and, like the pioneer stock from which I sprang, to view what the landscape beyond the encircling
hills might disclose from the summits which shut out my view.
It also occurred to me that this would prove an excellent opportunity to test the qualities
of Woola. I was convinced that the brute loved me; I had seen more evidences of affection
in him than in any other Martian animal, man or beast, and I was sure that gratitude for
the acts that had twice saved his life would more than outweigh his loyalty to the duty
imposed upon him by cruel and loveless masters. As I approached the boundary line Woola ran
anxiously before me, and thrust his body against my legs. His expression was pleading rather
than ferocious, nor did he bare his great tusks or utter his fearful guttural warnings.
Denied the friendship and companionship of my kind, I had developed considerable affection
for Woola and Sola, for the normal earthly man must have some outlet for his natural
affections, and so I decided upon an appeal to a like instinct in this great brute, sure
that I would not be disappointed. I had never petted nor fondled him, but now
I sat upon the ground and putting my arms around his heavy neck I stroked and coaxed
him, talking in my newly acquired Martian tongue as I would have to my hound at home,
as I would have talked to any other friend among the lower animals. His response to my
manifestation of affection was remarkable to a degree; he stretched his great mouth
to its full width, baring the entire expanse of his upper rows of tusks and wrinkling his
snout until his great eyes were almost hidden by the folds of flesh. If you have ever seen
a collie smile you may have some idea of Woola's facial distortion.
He threw himself upon his back and fairly wallowed at my feet; jumped up and sprang
upon me, rolling me upon the ground by his great weight; then wriggling and squirming
around me like a playful puppy presenting its back for the petting it craves. I could
not resist the ludicrousness of the spectacle, and holding my sides I rocked back and forth
in the first laughter which had passed my lips in many days; the first, in fact, since
the morning Powell had left camp when his horse, long unused, had precipitately and
unexpectedly bucked him off headforemost into a pot of frijoles.
My laughter frightened Woola, his antics ceased and he crawled pitifully toward me, poking
his ugly head far into my lap; and then I remembered what laughter signified on Mars
torture, suffering, death. Quieting myself, I rubbed the poor old fellow's head and back,
talked to him for a few minutes, and then in an authoritative tone commanded him to
follow me, and arising started for the hills. There was no further question of authority
between us; Woola was my devoted slave from that moment hence, and I his only and undisputed
master. My walk to the hills occupied but a few minutes, and I found nothing of particular
interest to reward me. Numerous brilliantly colored and strangely formed wild flowers
dotted the ravines and from the summit of the first hill I saw still other hills stretching
off toward the north, and rising, one range above another, until lost in mountains of
quite respectable dimensions; though I afterward found that only a few peaks on all Mars exceed
four thousand feet in height; the suggestion of magnitude was merely relative.
My morning's walk had been large with importance to me for it had resulted in a perfect understanding
with Woola, upon whom Tars Tarkas relied for my safe keeping. I now knew that while theoretically
a prisoner I was virtually free, and I hastened to regain the city limits before the defection
of Woola could be discovered by his erstwhile masters. The adventure decided me never again
to leave the limits of my prescribed stamping grounds until I was ready to venture forth
for good and all, as it would certainly result in a curtailment of my liberties, as well
as the probable death of Woola, were we to be discovered.
On regaining the plaza I had my third glimpse of the captive girl. She was standing with
her guards before the entrance to the audience chamber, and as I approached she gave me one
haughty glance and turned her back full upon me. The act was so womanly, so earthly womanly,
that though it stung my pride it also warmed my heart with a feeling of companionship;
it was good to know that someone else on Mars beside myself had human instincts of a civilized
order, even though the manifestation of them was so painful and mortifying.
Had a green Martian woman desired to show dislike or contempt she would, in all likelihood,
have done it with a sword thrust or a movement of her trigger finger; but as their sentiments
are mostly atrophied it would have required a serious injury to have aroused such passions
in them. Sola, let me add, was an exception; I never saw her perform a cruel or uncouth
act, or fail in uniform kindliness and good nature. She was indeed, as her fellow Martian
had said of her, an atavism; a dear and precious reversion to a former type of loved and loving
ancestor. Seeing that the prisoner seemed the center
of attraction I halted to view the proceedings. I had not long to wait for presently Lorquas
Ptomel and his retinue of chieftains approached the building and, signing the guards to follow
with the prisoner entered the audience chamber. Realizing that I was a somewhat favored character,
and also convinced that the warriors did not know of my proficiency in their language,
as I had plead with Sola to keep this a secret on the grounds that I did not wish to be forced
to talk with the men until I had perfectly mastered the Martian tongue, I chanced an
attempt to enter the audience chamber and listen to the proceedings.
The council squatted upon the steps of the rostrum, while below them stood the prisoner
and her two guards. I saw that one of the women was Sarkoja, and thus understood how
she had been present at the hearing of the preceding day, the results of which she had
reported to the occupants of our dormitory last night. Her attitude toward the captive
was most harsh and brutal. When she held her, she sunk her rudimentary nails into the poor
girl's flesh, or twisted her arm in a most painful manner. When it was necessary to move
from one spot to another she either *** her roughly, or pushed her headlong before
her. She seemed to be venting upon this poor defenseless creature all the hatred, cruelty,
ferocity, and spite of her nine hundred years, backed by unguessable ages of fierce and brutal
ancestors. The other woman was less cruel because she
was entirely indifferent; if the prisoner had been left to her alone, and fortunately
she was at night, she would have received no harsh treatment, nor, by the same token
would she have received any attention at all. As Lorquas Ptomel raised his eyes to address
the prisoner they fell on me and he turned to Tars Tarkas with a word, and gesture of
impatience. Tars Tarkas made some reply which I could not catch, but which caused Lorquas
Ptomel to smile; after which they paid no further attention to me.
"What is your name?" asked Lorquas Ptomel, addressing the prisoner.
"Dejah Thoris, daughter of Mors Kajak of Helium." "And the nature of your expedition?" he continued.
"It was a purely scientific research party sent out by my father's father, the Jeddak
of Helium, to rechart the air currents, and to take atmospheric density tests," replied
the fair prisoner, in a low, well-modulated voice.
"We were unprepared for battle," she continued, "as we were on a peaceful mission, as our
banners and the colors of our craft denoted. The work we were doing was as much in your
interests as in ours, for you know full well that were it not for our labors and the fruits
of our scientific operations there would not be enough air or water on Mars to support
a single human life. For ages we have maintained the air and water supply at practically the
same point without an appreciable loss, and we have done this in the face of the brutal
and ignorant interference of you green men. "Why, oh, why will you not learn to live in
amity with your fellows. Must you ever go on down the ages to your final extinction
but little above the plane of the dumb brutes that serve you! A people without written language,
without art, without homes, without love; the victims of eons of the horrible community
idea. Owning everything in common, even to your women and children, has resulted in your
owning nothing in common. You hate each other as you hate all else except yourselves. Come
back to the ways of our common ancestors, come back to the light of kindliness and fellowship.
The way is open to you, you will find the hands of the red men stretched out to aid
you. Together we may do still more to regenerate our dying planet. The granddaughter of the
greatest and mightiest of the red jeddaks has asked you. Will you come?"
Lorquas Ptomel and the warriors sat looking silently and intently at the young woman for
several moments after she had ceased speaking. What was passing in their minds no man may
know, but that they were moved I truly believe, and if one man high among them had been strong
enough to rise above custom, that moment would have marked a new and mighty era for Mars.
I saw Tars Tarkas rise to speak, and on his face was such an expression as I had never
seen upon the countenance of a green Martian warrior. It bespoke an inward and mighty battle
with self, with heredity, with age-old custom, and as he opened his mouth to speak, a look
almost of benignity, of kindliness, momentarily lighted up his fierce and terrible countenance.
What words of moment were to have fallen from his lips were never spoken, as just then a
young warrior, evidently sensing the trend of thought among the older men, leaped down
from the steps of the rostrum, and striking the frail captive a powerful blow across the
face, which felled her to the floor, placed his foot upon her prostrate form and turning
toward the assembled council broke into peals of horrid, mirthless laughter.
For an instant I thought Tars Tarkas would strike him dead, nor did the aspect of Lorquas
Ptomel augur any too favorably for the brute, but the mood passed, their old selves reasserted
their ascendency, and they smiled. It was portentous however that they did not laugh
aloud, for the brute's act constituted a side-splitting witticism according to the ethics which rule
green Martian humor. That I have taken moments to write down a
part of what occurred as that blow fell does not signify that I remained inactive for any
such length of time. I think I must have sensed something of what was coming, for I realize
now that I was crouched as for a spring as I saw the blow aimed at her beautiful, upturned,
pleading face, and ere the hand descended I was halfway across the hall.
Scarcely had his hideous laugh rang out but once, when I was upon him. The brute was twelve
feet in height and armed to the teeth, but I believe that I could have accounted for
the whole roomful in the terrific intensity of my rage. Springing upward, I struck him
full in the face as he turned at my warning cry and then as he drew his short-sword I
drew mine and sprang up again upon his breast, hooking one leg over the butt of his pistol
and grasping one of his huge tusks with my left hand while I delivered blow after blow
upon his enormous chest. He could not use his short-sword to advantage
because I was too close to him, nor could he draw his pistol, which he attempted to
do in direct opposition to Martian custom which says that you may not fight a fellow
warrior in private combat with any other than the weapon with which you are attacked. In
fact he could do nothing but make a wild and futile attempt to dislodge me. With all his
immense bulk he was little if any stronger than I, and it was but the matter of a moment
or two before he sank, bleeding and lifeless, to the floor.
Dejah Thoris had raised herself upon one elbow and was watching the battle with wide, staring
eyes. When I had regained my feet I raised her in my arms and bore her to one of the
benches at the side of the room. Again no Martian interfered with me, and tearing
a piece of silk from my cape I endeavored to staunch the flow of blood from her nostrils.
I was soon successful as her injuries amounted to little more than an ordinary nosebleed,
and when she could speak she placed her hand upon my arm and looking up into my eyes, said:
"Why did you do it? You who refused me even friendly recognition in the first hour of
my peril! And now you risk your life and kill one of your companions for my sake. I cannot
understand. What strange manner of man are you, that you consort with the green men,
though your form is that of my race, while your color is little darker than that of the
white ape? Tell me, are you human, or are you more than human?"
"It is a strange tale," I replied, "too long to attempt to tell you now, and one which
I so much doubt the credibility of myself that I fear to hope that others will believe
it. Suffice it, for the present, that I am your friend, and, so far as our captors will
permit, your protector and your servant." "Then you too are a prisoner? But why, then,
those arms and the regalia of a Tharkian chieftain? What is your name? Where your country?"
"Yes, Dejah Thoris, I too am a prisoner; my name is John Carter, and I claim Virginia,
one of the United States of America, Earth, as my home; but why I am permitted to wear
arms I do not know, nor was I aware that my regalia was that of a chieftain."
We were interrupted at this juncture by the approach of one of the warriors, bearing arms,
accoutrements and ornaments, and in a flash one of her questions was answered and a puzzle
cleared up for me. I saw that the body of my dead antagonist had been stripped, and
I read in the menacing yet respectful attitude of the warrior who had brought me these trophies
of the kill the same demeanor as that evinced by the other who had brought me my original
equipment, and now for the first time I realized that my blow, on the occasion of my first
battle in the audience chamber had resulted in the death of my adversary.
The reason for the whole attitude displayed toward me was now apparent; I had won my spurs,
so to speak, and in the crude justice, which always marks Martian dealings, and which,
among other things, has caused me to call her the planet of paradoxes, I was accorded
the honors due a conqueror; the trappings and the position of the man I killed. In truth,
I was a Martian chieftain, and this I learned later was the cause of my great freedom and
my toleration in the audience chamber. As I had turned to receive the dead warrior's
chattels I had noticed that Tars Tarkas and several others had pushed forward toward us,
and the eyes of the former rested upon me in a most quizzical manner. Finally he addressed
me: "You speak the tongue of Barsoom quite readily
for one who was deaf and dumb to us a few short days ago. Where did you learn it, John
Carter?" "You, yourself, are responsible, Tars Tarkas,"
I replied, "in that you furnished me with an instructress of remarkable ability; I have
to thank Sola for my learning." "She has done well," he answered, "but your
education in other respects needs considerable polish. Do you know what your unprecedented
temerity would have cost you had you failed to kill either of the two chieftains whose
metal you now wear?" "I presume that that one whom I had failed
to kill, would have killed me," I answered, smiling.
"No, you are wrong. Only in the last extremity of self-defense would a Martian warrior kill
a prisoner; we like to save them for other purposes," and his face bespoke possibilities
that were not pleasant to dwell upon. "But one thing can save you now," he continued.
"Should you, in recognition of your remarkable valor, ferocity, and prowess, be considered
by Tal Hajus as worthy of his service you may be taken into the community and become
a full-fledged Tharkian. Until we reach the headquarters of Tal Hajus it is the will of
Lorquas Ptomel that you be accorded the respect your acts have earned you. You will be treated
by us as a Tharkian chieftain, but you must not forget that every chief who ranks you
is responsible for your safe delivery to our mighty and most ferocious ruler. I am done."
"I hear you, Tars Tarkas," I answered. "As you know I am not of Barsoom; your ways are
not my ways, and I can only act in the future as I have in the past, in accordance with
the dictates of my conscience and guided by the standards of mine own people. If you will
leave me alone I will go in peace, but if not, let the individual Barsoomians with whom
I must deal either respect my rights as a stranger among you, or take whatever consequences
may befall. Of one thing let us be sure, whatever may be your ultimate intentions toward this
unfortunate young woman, whoever would offer her injury or insult in the future must figure
on making a full accounting to me. I understand that you belittle all sentiments of generosity
and kindliness, but I do not, and I can convince your most doughty warrior that these characteristics
are not incompatible with an ability to fight." Ordinarily I am not given to long speeches,
nor ever before had I descended to bombast, but I had guessed at the keynote which would
strike an answering chord in the *** of the green Martians, nor was I wrong, for my
harangue evidently deeply impressed them, and their attitude toward me thereafter was
still further respectful. Tars Tarkas himself seemed pleased with my
reply, but his only comment was more or less enigmatical "And I think I know Tal Hajus,
Jeddak of Thark." I now turned my attention to Dejah Thoris,
and assisting her to her feet I turned with her toward the exit, ignoring her hovering
guardian harpies as well as the inquiring glances of the chieftains. Was I not now a
chieftain also! Well, then, I would assume the responsibilities of one. They did not
*** us, and so Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium, and John Carter, gentleman of Virginia,
followed by the faithful Woola, passed through utter silence from the audience chamber of
Lorquas Ptomel, Jed among the Tharks of Barsoom.
CHAPTER XI WITH DEJAH THORIS
As we reached the open the two female guards who had been detailed to watch over Dejah
Thoris hurried up and made as though to assume custody of her once more. The poor child shrank
against me and I felt her two little hands fold tightly over my arm. Waving the women
away, I informed them that Sola would attend the captive hereafter, and I further warned
Sarkoja that any more of her cruel attentions bestowed upon Dejah Thoris would result in
Sarkoja's sudden and painful demise. My threat was unfortunate and resulted in
more harm than good to Dejah Thoris, for, as I learned later, men do not kill women
upon Mars, nor women, men. So Sarkoja merely gave us an ugly look and departed to hatch
up deviltries against us. I soon found Sola and explained to her that
I wished her to guard Dejah Thoris as she had guarded me; that I wished her to find
other quarters where they would not be molested by Sarkoja, and I finally informed her that
I myself would take up my quarters among the men.
Sola glanced at the accouterments which were carried in my hand and slung across my shoulder.
"You are a great chieftain now, John Carter," she said, "and I must do your bidding, though
indeed I am glad to do it under any circumstances. The man whose metal you carry was young, but
he was a great warrior, and had by his promotions and kills won his way close to the rank of
Tars Tarkas, who, as you know, is second to Lorquas Ptomel only. You are eleventh, there
are but ten chieftains in this community who rank you in prowess."
"And if I should kill Lorquas Ptomel?" I asked. "You would be first, John Carter; but you
may only win that honor by the will of the entire council that Lorquas Ptomel meet you
in combat, or should he attack you, you may kill him in self-defense, and thus win first
place." I laughed, and changed the subject. I had
no particular desire to kill Lorquas Ptomel, and less to be a jed among the Tharks.
I accompanied Sola and Dejah Thoris in a search for new quarters, which we found in a building
nearer the audience chamber and of far more pretentious architecture than our former habitation.
We also found in this building real sleeping apartments with ancient beds of highly wrought
metal swinging from enormous gold chains depending from the marble ceilings. The decoration of
the walls was most elaborate, and, unlike the frescoes in the other buildings I had
examined, portrayed many human figures in the compositions. These were of people like
myself, and of a much lighter color than Dejah Thoris. They were clad in graceful, flowing
robes, highly ornamented with metal and jewels, and their luxuriant hair was of a beautiful
golden and reddish bronze. The men were beardless and only a few wore arms. The scenes depicted
for the most part, a fair-skinned, fair-haired people at play.
Dejah Thoris clasped her hands with an exclamation of rapture as she gazed upon these magnificent
works of art, wrought by a people long extinct; while Sola, on the other hand, apparently
did not see them. We decided to use this room, on the second
floor and overlooking the plaza, for Dejah Thoris and Sola, and another room adjoining
and in the rear for the cooking and supplies. I then dispatched Sola to bring the bedding
and such food and utensils as she might need, telling her that I would guard Dejah Thoris
until her return. As Sola departed Dejah Thoris turned to me
with a faint smile. "And whereto, then, would your prisoner escape
should you leave her, unless it was to follow you and crave your protection, and ask your
pardon for the cruel thoughts she has harbored against you these past few days?"
"You are right," I answered, "there is no escape for either of us unless we go together."
"I heard your challenge to the creature you call Tars Tarkas, and I think I understand
your position among these people, but what I cannot fathom is your statement that you
are not of Barsoom." "In the name of my first ancestor, then,"
she continued, "where may you be from? You are like unto my people, and yet so unlike.
You speak my language, and yet I heard you tell Tars Tarkas that you had but learned
it recently. All Barsoomians speak the same tongue from the ice-clad south to the ice-clad
north, though their written languages differ. Only in the valley Dor, where the river Iss
empties into the lost sea of Korus, is there supposed to be a different language spoken,
and, except in the legends of our ancestors, there is no record of a Barsoomian returning
up the river Iss, from the shores of Korus in the valley of Dor. Do not tell me that
you have thus returned! They would kill you horribly anywhere upon the surface of Barsoom
if that were true; tell me it is not!" Her eyes were filled with a strange, weird
light; her voice was pleading, and her little hands, reached up upon my breast, were pressed
against me as though to wring a denial from my very heart.
"I do not know your customs, Dejah Thoris, but in my own Virginia a gentleman does not
lie to save himself; I am not of Dor; I have never seen the mysterious Iss; the lost sea
of Korus is still lost, so far as I am concerned. Do you believe me?"
And then it struck me suddenly that I was very anxious that she should believe me. It
was not that I feared the results which would follow a general belief that I had returned
from the Barsoomian heaven or hell, or whatever it was. Why was it, then! Why should I care
what she thought? I looked down at her; her beautiful face upturned, and her wonderful
eyes opening up the very depth of her soul; and as my eyes met hers I knew why, and I
shuddered. A similar wave of feeling seemed to stir her;
she drew away from me with a sigh, and with her earnest, beautiful face turned up to mine,
she whispered: "I believe you, John Carter; I do not know what a 'gentleman' is, nor have
I ever heard before of Virginia; but on Barsoom no man lies; if he does not wish to speak
the truth he is silent. Where is this Virginia, your country, John Carter?" she asked, and
it seemed that this fair name of my fair land had never sounded more beautiful than as it
fell from those perfect lips on that far-gone day.
"I am of another world," I answered, "the great planet Earth, which revolves about our
common sun and next within the orbit of your Barsoom, which we know as Mars. How I came
here I cannot tell you, for I do not know; but here I am, and since my presence has permitted
me to serve Dejah Thoris I am glad that I am here."
She gazed at me with troubled eyes, long and questioningly. That it was difficult to believe
my statement I well knew, nor could I hope that she would do so however much I craved
her confidence and respect. I would much rather not have told her anything of my antecedents,
but no man could look into the depth of those eyes and refuse her slightest behest.
Finally she smiled, and, rising, said: "I shall have to believe even though I cannot
understand. I can readily perceive that you are not of the Barsoom of today; you are like
us, yet different but why should I trouble my poor head with such a problem, when my
heart tells me that I believe because I wish to believe!"
It was good logic, good, earthly, feminine logic, and if it satisfied her I certainly
could pick no flaws in it. As a matter of fact it was about the only kind of logic that
could be brought to bear upon my problem. We fell into a general conversation then,
asking and answering many questions on each side. She was curious to learn of the customs
of my people and displayed a remarkable knowledge of events on Earth. When I questioned her
closely on this seeming familiarity with earthly things she laughed, and cried out:
"Why, every school boy on Barsoom knows the geography, and much concerning the fauna and
flora, as well as the history of your planet fully as well as of his own. Can we not see
everything which takes place upon Earth, as you call it; is it not hanging there in the
heavens in plain sight?" This baffled me, I must confess, fully as
much as my statements had confounded her; and I told her so. She then explained in general
the instruments her people had used and been perfecting for ages, which permit them to
throw upon a screen a perfect image of what is transpiring upon any planet and upon many
of the stars. These pictures are so perfect in detail that, when photographed and enlarged,
objects no greater than a blade of grass may be distinctly recognized. I afterward, in
Helium, saw many of these pictures, as well as the instruments which produced them.
"If, then, you are so familiar with earthly things," I asked, "why is it that you do not
recognize me as identical with the inhabitants of that planet?"
She smiled again as one might in bored indulgence of a questioning child.
"Because, John Carter," she replied, "nearly every planet and star having atmospheric conditions
at all approaching those of Barsoom, shows forms of animal life almost identical with
you and me; and, further, Earth men, almost without exception, cover their bodies with
strange, unsightly pieces of cloth, and their heads with hideous contraptions the purpose
of which we have been unable to conceive; while you, when found by the Tharkian warriors,
were entirely undisfigured and unadorned. "The fact that you wore no ornaments is a
strong proof of your un-Barsoomian origin, while the absence of grotesque coverings might
cause a doubt as to your earthliness." I then narrated the details of my departure
from the Earth, explaining that my body there lay fully clothed in all the, to her, strange
garments of mundane dwellers. At this point Sola returned with our meager belongings and
her young Martian protege, who, of course, would have to share the quarters with them.
Sola asked us if we had had a visitor during her absence, and seemed much surprised when
we answered in the negative. It seemed that as she had mounted the approach to the upper
floors where our quarters were located, she had met Sarkoja descending. We decided that
she must have been eavesdropping, but as we could recall nothing of importance that had
passed between us we dismissed the matter as of little consequence, merely promising
ourselves to be warned to the utmost caution in the future.
Dejah Thoris and I then fell to examining the architecture and decorations of the beautiful
chambers of the building we were occupying. She told me that these people had presumably
flourished over a hundred thousand years before. They were the early progenitors of her race,
but had mixed with the other great race of early Martians, who were very dark, almost
black, and also with the reddish yellow race which had flourished at the same time.
These three great divisions of the higher Martians had been forced into a mighty alliance
as the drying up of the Martian seas had compelled them to seek the comparatively few and always
diminishing fertile areas, and to defend themselves, under new conditions of life, against the
wild hordes of green men. Ages of close relationship and intermarrying
had resulted in the race of red men, of which Dejah Thoris was a fair and beautiful daughter.
During the ages of hardships and incessant warring between their own various races, as
well as with the green men, and before they had fitted themselves to the changed conditions,
much of the high civilization and many of the arts of the fair-haired Martians had become
lost; but the red race of today has reached a point where it feels that it has made up
in new discoveries and in a more practical civilization for all that lies irretrievably
buried with the ancient Barsoomians, beneath the countless intervening ages.
These ancient Martians had been a highly cultivated and literary race, but during the vicissitudes
of those trying centuries of readjustment to new conditions, not only did their advancement
and production cease entirely, but practically all their archives, records, and literature
were lost. Dejah Thoris related many interesting facts
and legends concerning this lost race of noble and kindly people. She said that the city
in which we were camping was supposed to have been a center of commerce and culture known
as Korad. It had been built upon a beautiful, natural harbor, landlocked by magnificent
hills. The little valley on the west front of the city, she explained, was all that remained
of the harbor, while the pass through the hills to the old sea bottom had been the channel
through which the shipping passed up to the city's gates.
The shores of the ancient seas were dotted with just such cities, and lesser ones, in
diminishing numbers, were to be found converging toward the center of the oceans, as the people
had found it necessary to follow the receding waters until necessity had forced upon them
their ultimate salvation, the so-called Martian canals.
We had been so engrossed in exploration of the building and in our conversation that
it was late in the afternoon before we realized it. We were brought back to a realization
of our present conditions by a messenger bearing a summons from Lorquas Ptomel directing me
to appear before him forthwith. Bidding Dejah Thoris and Sola farewell, and commanding Woola
to remain on guard, I hastened to the audience chamber, where I found Lorquas Ptomel and
Tars Tarkas seated upon the rostrum.
CHAPTER XII A PRISONER WITH POWER
As I entered and saluted, Lorquas Ptomel signaled me to advance, and, fixing his great, hideous
eyes upon me, addressed me thus: "You have been with us a few days, yet during
that time you have by your prowess won a high position among us. Be that as it may, you
are not one of us; you owe us no allegiance. "Your position is a peculiar one," he continued;
"you are a prisoner and yet you give commands which must be obeyed; you are an alien and
yet you are a Tharkian chieftain; you are a midget and yet you can kill a mighty warrior
with one blow of your fist. And now you are reported to have been plotting to escape with
another prisoner of another race; a prisoner who, from her own admission, half believes
you are returned from the valley of Dor. Either one of these accusations, if proved, would
be sufficient grounds for your execution, but we are a just people and you shall have
a trial on our return to Thark, if Tal Hajus so commands.
"But," he continued, in his fierce guttural tones, "if you run off with the red girl it
is I who shall have to account to Tal Hajus; it is I who shall have to face Tars Tarkas,
and either demonstrate my right to command, or the metal from my dead carcass will go
to a better man, for such is the custom of the Tharks.
"I have no quarrel with Tars Tarkas; together we rule supreme the greatest of the lesser
communities among the green men; we do not wish to fight between ourselves; and so if
you were dead, John Carter, I should be glad. Under two conditions only, however, may you
be killed by us without orders from Tal Hajus; in personal combat in self-defense, should
you attack one of us, or were you apprehended in an attempt to escape.
"As a matter of justice I must warn you that we only await one of these two excuses for
ridding ourselves of so great a responsibility. The safe delivery of the red girl to Tal Hajus
is of the greatest importance. Not in a thousand years have the Tharks made such a capture;
she is the granddaughter of the greatest of the red jeddaks, who is also our bitterest
enemy. I have spoken. The red girl told us that we were without the softer sentiments
of humanity, but we are a just and truthful race. You may go."
me, and something tells me that I shall soon know.